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Dow Books Triple-Digit Gain

Written by: Alexandra Zendrian,Andrea Tse 07/18/12 - 5:16 PM EDT
Tickers in this article: ^DJI HON CS ^GSPC BAC ^IXIC INTC IBM YHOO

IBM's stock rose 2.5% to close at $188.25 ahead of its quarterly report. After the bell, Big Blue eased past Wall Street's earnings expectations for the second quarter but fell a bit short on revenue. The shares were undeterred, extending gains in after-hours trading.

The biggest percentage losers among the blue chips were Bank of America(BAC) , American Express(AXP) and Merck(MRK) .

Bank of America lost nearly 5% after the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank said second-quarter revenue totaled $22.2 billion, down 1% year-over-year. Earnings came in at 19 cents a share for the three-month period. Analysts were expecting a profit of 14 cents a share on revenue of $22.9 billion.

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In the broad market, the technology, capital goods and consumer cyclicals all charged higher, while financials were the only sector to finish in the red.

Gainers outpaced decliners by a ratio of nearly 2-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange and 1.5-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

In other earnings news, Honeywell International(HON) shares surged 6.67% to $58.17 after the diversified technology and manufacturing company reported consensus-topping second-quarter earnings thanks to a jump in sales at its aerospace division.

Yahoo!(YHOO) posted quarterly earnings late Tuesday that topped expectations, but revenue came in a bit light. New CEO Marissa Mayer wasn't on the Internet company's earnings conference call. The stock ended Wednesday up 0.58% to $15.68.

According to Thomson Reuters data, the blended estimate for the second quarter, which reflects reported results and analyst expectations, is for year-over-year growth of 5.9% from the S&P 500, down from 8.1% in the first quarter. 10% of S&P 500 companies have reported so far.

Stocks also rose Tuesday as above-consensus earnings reports helped investors move past an appearance by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on Capitol Hill where he gave no indication that another round of quantitative easing was likely this summer. Bernanke was back on Capitol Hill Wednesday, delivering the same message to a House committee.