Stock market on a roll as companies report earnings
BY Associated Press
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
1/23/13 at 2:00 AM
Strong earnings reports from big companies helped push the Dow Jones industrial average to its eighth gain in nine sessions Tuesday.
DuPont, Verizon and Travelers Cos., three of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow, closed higher after reporting their fourth-quarter results.
The Dow closed up 62.51 points, or 0.5 percent, at 13,712.21; The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 6.53, or 0.4 percent, to 1,492.51.
Earnings have been strong enough this season to drive a five-day winning streak for the S&P 500 and put the Dow on track for its biggest monthly percentage gain since October 2011.
Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago, said traders have been encouraged by the number of companies beating analysts' profit expectations.
"Companies are doing a decent job beating on the profit side," he said, though noting that the revenue component has been weaker.
