Buffett, Apple spark Dow win streak

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s stamp of approval can still provide a lift to the market.

News of Buffett’s 75 million share purchase of Apple stock a week ago is being credited by some Wall Street pros with injecting fresh confidence into the market and helping to propel the Dow Jones industrial average to its first sixsession winning streak since February, when it was rebounding from its first

10% drop, or correction, in two years. In the recent win streak, the Dow has rallied more than 800 points, or 3.4%.

Apple’s earnings power also gave investors reason to cheer. The iPhone maker reported record quarterly profit and revenue on May 1 and has seen its shares rally more than 12% since then to a fresh record high. Apple is now valued at more than $950 billion, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, and is within striking distance of becoming the first stock with a market value of $1 trillion.

“Apple’s stronger-than-expected earnings, combined with the vote of confidence from Buffett, was the pivot point,” says Joe Quinlan, chief market strategist at U.S. Trust. “It reignited investor confidence.”

The Dow also got a lift from crude’s rise above $71 per barrel for the first time since 2014. The oil rally boosted shares of Dow stock, Exxon-Mobil, which rose

2.2% Thursday and is up five straight days. Other Dow drivers: a strong firstquarter earnings season, solid job gains in April and tame readings on inflation this week, which cooled fears of spiking bond yields. “All of these things point to a healthy economy,” Quinlan says.