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By MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK - Investors gave stocks a strong boost Monday, reassured by
earnings reports that at least temporarily offset concerns about Iraq
(news - web sites) and terrorism.
With stocks coming off a down week, spurred by intensified fighting
in Iraq, Wall Street looked to earnings to help restore investors' confidence.
Among the companies reporting later in the week are Merrill Lynch &
Co., Johnson & Johnson, Citigroup and IBM Corp.
Expectations for a strong season may have been started last week with
positive earnings from General Electric Co. and Yahoo! Inc (NasdaqNM:YHOO
- news)., according to Todd Leone, managing director of equity trading
at SG Cowen Securities.
"I'm kind of surprised we're up this much given the situation in
Iraq," Leone said. "I think people looked at stocks like Yahoo!,
which had a nice jump, and they're trying to get ahead of earnings to
take advantage of some of the upside coming up."
In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 72.26,
or 0.7 percent, to 10,514.29.
Broader stock indicators were also higher. The Standard & Poor's
500 index was up 5.50, or 0.5 percent, at 1,144.82, and the Nasdaq composite
index gained 11.26, or 0.6 percent, to 2,064.14.
Two media companies, Gannett Co. and The New York Times Co., announced
earnings before the session began. Gannett saw a 10 percent hike in
first-quarter profits, and earnings per share were in line with estimates.
Gannett lost $1.60 to $88.82.
The New York Times Co. was down 28 cents at $46.79 after announcing
profits that declined 15 percent year-over-year. However, the company
beat Wall Street expectations by 2 cents per share.
Kimberly-Clark Corp., maker of consumer products such as Kleenex and
Huggies diapers, slipped 5 cents to $63.75 as it announced earnings
would be higher than previously estimated. The company was expected
to report first-quarter earnings April 22.
Microsoft Corp. gained 19 cents to $25.67 as it announced a $400 million
settlement with InterTrust Technologies Corp. over a long-standing patent
dispute centered on digital rights management technology.
Chemical giant DuPont Co. said it will eliminate 3,500 jobs by year's
end in an effort to cut costs. DuPont, which rose 67 cents to $44.10,
expects to take a one-time second quarter charge of approximately 17
cents to 19 cents per share to cover severance costs.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly 3 to 2 on the New York
Stock Exchange (news - web sites), where volume came to 586.42 million
shares, compared with 646.73 million at the same point Friday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was up 1.68, or 0.3 percent,
at 599.56.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average gained 1.2 percent. European
markets remained closed for the Easter holiday.
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