Strong earnings boost stocks

Favorable reports from Microsoft and Comcast gave investors a measure of confidence.

U.S. stocks surged Thursday as strong earnings reports from market bellwethers such as Microsoft and Comcast gave a boost of confidence to investors shaken by the recent wave of selling.

The rally wiped out a large part of the market’s drop from the day before, but stocks are still down sharply over the last three weeks.

Technology firms rallied after reports from Microsoft and others, while Twitter and Comcast led the way for internet and media companies. Ford’s results helped consumer-focused stocks.

Some encouraging economic news also helped stabilize markets. The Commerce Department said orders to U.S. factories for major manufactured goods grew in September, and the increase was larger than analysts expected.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 49.47 points, or 1.9%, to 2,705.57. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 401.13 points, or 1.6%, to 24,984.55; earlier in the day, it was up as much as 520 points. The Nasdaq surged 209.94 points, or 3%, to 7,318.34 the day after suffering its biggest drop in seven years.

Microsoft beat analysts’ forecasts for last quarter as it mined new revenue sources in online subscriptions, gaming and its LinkedIn professional networking service. Shares of the tech giant jumped 5.8% to $108.30.

“It’s certainly reassuring to see stocks bounce back today on stronger earnings, but I would expect that we continue to see a lot of dayto-day volatility,” said Kate Warne, an investment strategist for Edward Jones.

Twitter soared 15.5% to $31.80 and electric car maker Tesla jumped 9.1% to $314.86 after their quarterly reports. Video game maker TakeTwo climbed 8.8% to $120.70 after strong reviews for its latest game, “Red Dead Redemption 2.”

After Thursday’s gains, the Dow and S&P 500 are each up about 1% for the year.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies climbed 31.70 points, or 2.2%, to 1,500.40 on Thursday. It has fallen 13.8% since the end of August and is down 2.3% so far this year.

U.S. bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note remained at 3.12%.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.8% to $67.33 a barrel. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, rose 0.9% to $76.89 a barrel.

Wholesale gasoline fell 0.5% to $1.81 a gallon. Heating oil rose 1.2% to $2.28 a gallon. Natural gas rose 1.1% to $3.20 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose 0.1% to $1,232.40 an ounce. Silver fell 0.3% to $14.63 an ounce. Copper fell 0.1% to $2.75 a pound.