All the major indices charged higher today as investors cheered positive earnings reports. The Dow gained 109 points on the day. The Nasdaq was the standout of the day, gaining 45 points. The S&P 500 rose by 13 points, or 0.88%.
The session was very choppy through the first half of the day, but late in the afternoon the major indices made a strong charge higher to finish the day strongly higher.
Basic material stocks and technology stocks led the charge higher today.
BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE:BHP) shares gained 3.63% after reporting mixed quarter production results. Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:PCU) shares rose 4.56% today. Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) jumped 6.15% on strong volume, erasing the small losses it had seen in the past week.
Technology stocks were led higher by Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL) which blew away earnings estimates yesterday evening. AAPL shares rose 6.73% and hit a new 52 week high today. Research in Motion Limited (Nasdaq:RIMM) shares jumped by 9.83% and also hit a new 52 week high today. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) gained 2.71% on strong volume today. Baidu.com Inc. (Nasdaq:BIDU) charged higher by 10.64% or almost 34 points, nearing its 52 week high once again. Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq:NTAP) charged higher by 6.55%, continuing its nice run over the past week.
The energy sector also rebounded nicely today, despite energy prices falling for a third straight day. Transocean Inc. (NYSE:RIG) rose 2.98% on the day, reversing some of the losses it has seen in the past two days. National-Oilwell Varco (NYSE:NOV) jumped by 7.54% today.
The picture was very different on the NYSE and the NASDAQ today as far as volume. The NYSE finished with a fairly low volume day of just 1.35 billion. The Nasdaq though finished with a rather robust trading volume of over 2.4 billion shares traded. New highs and new lows evened up quite a bit today, and the up volume led the down volume by a margin of about 2 to 1.
After today's closing bell there have been a couple of disappointing earnings reports and futures are looking quite negative for tommorrow mornings open so it will be interesting to see how the market responds.
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