Strong Earnings Propel Rally

Nasdaq up almost 5%, Dow and S&P jump 4% for the week
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 18, 2008 3:22 PM CDT
Strong Earnings Propel Rally
Caterpillar heavy machinery is lined up at Milton Cat in Richmond, Vt., Wednesday, April 16, 2008.    (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

Stocks rallied to weekly gains today as the markets absorbed last night's strong earnings report from Google and industrial multinationals Caterpillar and Honeywell recorded unexpected first-quarter growth, Bloomberg reports. Google propelled the Nasdaq up 61.14 to close at 2,402.97. The Dow rose 228.87 to 12,849.36, and the S&P 500 climbed 24.77 to 1,390.33. All the indices saw 4%-5% weekly gains.

Caterpillar and Honeywell said their earnings rose 13% and 22%, respectively, in the first quarter. Following the pattern of Merril Lynch and JP Morgan, who rallied this week after reporting bad-but-contained first-quarter losses, Citigroup’s stock rose 7.7% despite a dismal Q1 report because the bank performed better than the gloomiest predictions. (More Dow Jones stories.)

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