Warren Buffett“A public opinion poll is no substitute for thought.”
Adlin Sinclair“Success is a welcomed gift for the uninhibited mind.”
ExxonMobil profit fuels early Wall Street gains (AFP)
.
rose 92.95 points (0.92 percent) to 10,160.28 at 1538 GMT, as stocks bounced back from a rocky week and losses for the month of January.
advanced 15.29 points (0.71 percent) to 2,162.64 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index added 12.10 points (1.13 percent) to 1,085.97.
The first trading in February kicked off on a positive note as ExxonMobil beat most forecasts with a quarterly profit of 6.05
, helped by higher oil production and prices.
“Better-than-expected earnings from ExxonMobil and some encouraging manufacturing reports abroad have been supportive factors,” said Patrick O'Hare at
Briefing.com
.
“We suspect the biggest driver is the presumption that the market is due for a bounce following the large losses of late.”
The market also drew strength from economic reports showing gains in consumer income and spending as well as manufacturing activity.
edged up 0.2 percent in December, and
increased twice as much, 0.4 percent, the Commerce Department reported. Although the pace of consumer spending was below expectations, this was offset in part by an upward revision to November data.
A separate report from the Institute of Supply Management showed a brisk pace of manufacturing activity.
The ISM said its manufacturing index, also known as the
, climbed to 58.4 percent in January, the best number since 2004 and well ahead of the 50 percent that indicates growth.
“Manufacturers are pressing harder on the accelerator,” said Ryan Sweet at Moody's
Economy.com
.
Among stocks in focus, ExxonMobil paced the winners with a gain of 2.28 percent to 65.90 dollars after its forecast-topping profits for the fourth quarter of 2009.
In finance,
rallied 3.25 percent to 27.65 dollars after new chief executive James Gorman was quoted as telling the Financial Times the
would be hiring hundreds of new traders under an expansion plan.
rose 0.4 percent to 63.11 dollars as the
would pay 1.725
to settle a patent dispute over stents. Boston Scientific fell 0.81 percent to 8.56 dollars.
Gannett meanwhile plunged 9.41 percent to 14.63 dollars after the newspaper group reported weaker-than-expected
.
Bonds retreated. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 3.664 percent from 3.609 percent Friday while that on the 30-year bond increased to 4.576 percent from 4.510 percent.
and prices move in opposite directions.