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Wall Street: Weds mid-session

13 April 2012

STOCKS surged during morning trade after strong quarterly results from

Hewlett Packard
Applied Materials

The fresh batch of positive earnings news, combined with a pullback in oil prices and a recovery in stock markets around the globe, helped shore up investors' confidence following a string of market declines that began late last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 109.44 points, or 1.10%, at 10,077.95, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 12.77 points, or 1.17%, at 1,104.26. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 35.13 points, or 1.85%, at 1,932.95.

Helping to boost blue-chips above the key 10,000 mark, Dow component HP late Tuesday posted a higher quarterly profit on strong demand for servers, personal and notebook computers and raised its sales forecast for the second half of the year. Record-high quarterly sales at the number two computer maker topped even the most optimistic Wall Street forecasts.

HP shares, the most actively traded on the New York Stock Exchange, rose $1.16 to $20.99.

Applied Materials, the world's largest producer of microchip-making equipment, on Tuesday posted a profit compared with a year-earlier loss. Its revenue, driven by improving investment in Asia, nearly doubled, and it forecast revenue growth in the current quarter of slightly more than the average Wall Street analyst expectation.

Shares of Applied Materials, the most active on Nasdaq, rose 42 cents to $19.26.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber jumped 7.7% to $8.79 after it said it expects to report improved first-quarter results on lower costs and increased sales of higher-margin products, as it released long-delayed fourth-quarter results.

Another bright spot was Kroll which surged 30% after Marsh & McLennan, the world's number one insurance broker, said it agreed to acquire Kroll for $1.9bn in cash, expanding the company's risk consulting and advisory business.

Kroll was trading up $8.41 at $36.50, while Marsh & McLennnan rose $1.19 to $49.93.

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