IBM lifts Dow Jones average to highest level in five years
BY Wire Reports
Thursday, January 24, 2013
1/24/13 at 2:23 AM
Strong earnings from tech giants nudged the stock market to a five-year high Wednesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 67.12 points to close at 13,779.33 - the highest level since Oct. 31, 2007, a month before the recession started.
Google and IBM reported surprisingly solid fourth-quarter earnings late Tuesday, a hopeful sign for investors who previously had qualms about tech companies.
IBM's results beat expectations, thanks to its lucrative Internet-based "cloud computing" business and sales of software services to Brazil, Russia and other developing countries. The company also raised its earnings outlook for the current year.
IBM led the Dow's 30 stocks, rising $8.64 to $204.72.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index, which inched up 2.25 points to 1,494.81, is already up 4.8 percent in 2013.
