Downer shares surge on rising profit, rising share price
After struggling in the last 12 months, S&P 500 stocks bounced back on Monday with a solid gain, with Microsoft’s share price increasing on gains in PC sales and profits from its research and development division.
The Dow Jones industrial average advanced nearly 3 percent, hitting an intraday high of 23,600.
That was an increase of 7.8 percent, or $1.29, from a day earlier, and is within touching distance of where the market has hung on to in the days since a surprise loss in early trading in the wake of the Nov. 8 election.
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The rally came despite several days of mixed results. S&P 500 companies that didn’t make it through the previous trading day saw profit declines, most notably on Microsoft and Apple stock.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 also advanced to near record highs in recent weeks, with several companies hitting highs above the 200-day moving average.
The gains by companies on Monday were boosted by strong profit reports from companies including Cisco Systems Inc., IBM Corp., Nvidia Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc., which led shares to the top of the session.
With more investors looking for signs of recovery coming from Wall Street in the wake of a bruising election for President Trump and an uncertain future in Congress, companies have been turning their attention to their companies’ earnings results, hoping for a bounce in investor interest.
Cisco, for example, reported strong profit growth in March, as it added thousands of jobs in an attempt to build momentum for the fourth-quarter.
At Dow Jones, profits jumped 18 percent in the fourth quarter, with the top line contrib바카라uting more than 95 percent of the net income. Microsoft’s gain in sales on its cloud computing business boosted the value of its stock.
Microsoft’s stock also posted strong gains Tuesday, as analysts predicted strong profit growth for the company in fiscal 2018. It’s now valued at over $100 billion, more than twice the $83 bil바카라lion it was trading before the election.
Investors were also expecting new revenue guidance from the Federal Communications Commission as it prepares to review whether companies should be allowed to charge extra for data from customers in areas such as broadband. That could add billions of dollars to companies’ quartapronxerly profit, according to analysts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average.DJI rose 28.05 points, or 0.34 percent, to 22