The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
After losing streak, stocks surge
NEW YORK >> Strong results from major companies including Microsoft and Visa helped U.S. stocks bust out of another losing streak Thursday. The rally wiped out part of the market’s plunge from the day before, but stocks are still down sharply over the past three weeks.
Technology companies soared as Microsoft, Visa and Xilinx rallied after their quarterly reports, while Twitter and Comcast led the way for internet and media companies. Ford’s results helped consumer-focused stocks.
Some encouraging economic news 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.
In Europe, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the region’s economy is still growing at a solid clip even though there are signs it has weakened somewhat recently. But Asian markets took big losses, as the U.S. market did the day earlier.
The S&P 500 index jumped 49.47 points, or 1.9 percent, to 2,705.57. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 401.13 points, or 1.6 percent, to 24,984.55 after rising as much as 520 points during the day. The Nasdaq surged 209.93 points, or 3 percent, to 7,318.34 after its biggest drop in seven years.
The S&P 500 had index plunged 9.2 percent since Oct. 3 as investors worried about climbing interest rates and the effects of the U.S-China trade dispute.