Stocks close up on expected ECB stimulus, higher oil prices

By The Associated Press

Posted 4:15PM on Wednesday 21st January 2015 ( 10 years ago )

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are rising broadly Wednesday as investors weigh an expected big stimulus from Europe's central bank, higher oil prices and a batch of corporate earnings reports. European stocks rose before a decision Thursday by the European Central Bank on new measures to jolt the region's economy to faster growth. Asian markets closed mostly higher. KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose seven points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,030 as of 3:06 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 20 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,534. The Nasdaq climbed 10 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,665. ENERGY UP: Higher oil prices are lifting stocks in oil drillers and servicers. The energy sector rose 1.6 percent, the most among the 10 sectors of the S&P 500. MORE STIMULUS: U.S. stocks rose after reports that an announcement expected Thursday from the European Central Bank on the size of a new stimulus measures is likely to be as large as investors had anticipated. The ECB is set to unveil a massive round of government bond buying, a program known as quantitative easing. NETFLIX NATION: Netflix leapt 18 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P 500, after reporting record gains in subscribers and profits last quarter. In a report late Tuesday, the company said it added 4.3 million subscribers in the final three months of 2014 and that per-share earnings rose 72 percent from a year earlier. The stock jumped $62.83 to $411.63. BLUES AT BIG BLUE: IBM fell $4.48, or 3 percent, to $152.44 after the technology and consulting company reported an 11 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit. Its outlook for the coming year also disappointed investors as business customers continued to move away from buying big mainframe computers and traditional software installed on their own systems. HEALTH BOOST: After touching an all-time high, UnitedHealth was up $3.13, or 3 percent, to $108.76 following quarterly earnings that topped expectations. The nation's largest health insurer said last month that it expected double-digit earnings growth in 2015. OUTLOOK ON EARNINGS: Reporting of fourth-quarter earnings is in full swing. When all S&P 500 companies have reported, earnings per share are expected to have risen just 0.5 percent, the smallest quarterly gain in two years, according to FactSet. A slump in oil, down about 60 percent over the last six months, is largely to blame. EPS at energy companies are expected to have fallen 22 percent from a year earlier. THE QUOTE: "This earnings season is not as much of a slam dunk as in the past," said Anastasia Amoroso, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. "In prior seasons we had all sectors contributing (to gains), but energy and some industrial companies aren't now. There's a lot of uncertainty." BUILDING BOUNCE: Construction of new homes rebounded in December, helping to push activity for the entire year to the highest level since the peak of the housing boom nine years ago. Homebuilders D.R. Horton rose 1.4 percent. The Commerce Department report showed that builders started construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.09 million in December, an increase of 4.4 percent from November. EUROPEAN STOCKS: Britain's FTSE 100 added 1.6 percent, France's CAC 40 gained 0.9 percent and Germany's DAX rose 0.4 percent. ASIA'S DAY: Asian markets closed mostly highly. The Shanghai index rose 4.7 percent, its second gain in a row. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 index, however, slipped 0.5 percent after the Bank of Japan concluded a meeting without any changes to its ultra-loose monetary policy. ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 1.22 cents a barrel, or 1.3 percent, $47.70 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. CURRENCIES: The dollar weakened to 117.95 yen from 118.64 yen the previous day. The euro edged up to $1.1591 from $1.1548.

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