Monday, April 14, 2014

Stocks Surge, Dow Climbs Triple Digits

Stocks were jumping Monday, recovering some of the ground lost in Friday's big slide, helped by positive earnings news and retail sales.

Just before 11, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 120 points, or 0.8% to 16,146, while the Nasdaq, which had its biggest losses since 2012 on Friday, added 47 points, or 1.2%, to 4,046.  The S&P 500 was up 16 points, or 0.9%, to 1,832.

Part of the optimism comes from today's retail sales data, out from the Commerce Department, which showed the biggest jump since 2012. A better-than-expected earnings report from Citigroup (C) also improved the market's mood.

Citi isn't the only name to beat expectations this quarter. Thomson Reuters data out today show that of the 6% of S&P companies that have reported first-quarter earnings thus far, 51.6% have reported better-than-expected earnings per share, with 16.1% meeting expectations and 32.3% missing.  The picture is cloudier for revenue, however, with just 48.4% reporting above-consensus sales, and 51.6% missing expectations.  In a typical quarter, 62% of companies beat bottom-line estimates, and 61% beat top-line estimates.

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