Categories: U.S. Investing

U.S. Stocks Rise with Earnings as Jobless Claims Decline

U.S. Stocks Rise with Earnings as Jobless Claims Decline (Bloomberg)

U.S. stocks rose to send benchmark indexes to their best gains this year, as claims for unemployment benefits fell and earnings from >Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) to >Akamai Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM) topped estimates. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) climbed 1.2 percent to 1,773.43, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 188.30 points, or 1.2 percent, to 15,628.53. Both measures notched their biggest gains since Dec. 18. About 6.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, roughly 9 percent above the three-month average. Disney gained 5.3 percent after posting a quarterly profit that beat estimates. Akamai, which helps speed Internet-data delivery for customers such as Apple Inc., soared 21 percent after beating forecasts for quarterly earnings. >Coca-Cola Co. (KO) advanced 1.1 percent after agreeing to buy 10 percent of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. for about $1.25 billion. Green Mountain surged 26 percent. Twitter Inc. plunged 24 percent after reporting a wider-than-projected loss and slowing user growth.

Paul Dykewicz

Paul Dykewicz is the editor of StockInvestor.com and the editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, D.C. He writes and edits for the website, as well as edits investment newsletters, time-sensitive trading alerts and other reports published by Eagle. He also is an accomplished, award-winning journalist who has written for Dow Jones, USA Today and other publications, as well as served as business editor of a daily newspaper in Baltimore. In addition, Paul is the author of the inspirational book, "Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame's Championship Chaplain." He received his MBA in finance from Johns Hopkins University, where he was a two-time president of the school's Finance Club. In addition, Paul has a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in journalism from Michigan State University. Outside of work, Paul volunteers with a faith-based organization to assist the poor in Southeast Washington, D.C., to learn personal finance skills to lift themselves out of debt.