NEW YORK—U.S. stocks surged on Wednesday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average through the 10000 mark as the close approached, as investors grew hopeful for the approaching corporate- earnings season, while the release of details on European bank stress tests removed some uncertainty. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 257 points, or 2.6%, to 10001 with less than 15 minutes to go in the trading day, with all 30 components in the black. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added 2.9% to 1058.
The measures will extend Tuesday's gains, bouncing back from a rough losing streak last week that sent stocks to their lowest point this year. Stocks have been weighed by worries about the global economy, but investors are growing hopeful that a strong earnings season can propel the market out of the slump.
Boosting expectations for the second-quarter reports, money-manager State Street projected second- quarter profit well above analysts' forecasts, citing improving revenue trends. State Street, which isn't a Dow component, leapt 9.4%. Among the financial sector's other gainers, American Express climbed 4.3%, J.P. Morgan Chase advanced 4%, and Bank of America rose 3.9%.
"It's a good sign for earnings," said John Butters, director of U.S. earnings research at Thomson Reuters. But he added: "The focus really will be what they say for Q3."
The financial sector's gains also came as Europe's banking regulator released details about the stress tests, saying it will test 91 European banks. The results will be published July 23, and investors saw the setting of that date as signifying that the end to the uncertainty over the stress tests is near.
The technology sector was also strong Wednesday. Global storage leader EMC Corp. said it agreed to acquire Greenplum, a privately held data-warehousing company that specializes in analyzing large amounts of information. EMC, not a Dow component, climbed 4.7%.
Among the Dow's technology components, Cisco Systems added 4.4% and Hewlett-Packard advanced 3.5%. The technology-led Nasdaq Composite rose 2.5% to 2146.
Rebounding crude oil prices are helping stocks post gains for a secondstraight day, though questions about the outlook for growth continue toloom large. There is some potential upside for stretched consumerscoming from the energy world, however, with gasoline prices falling atthe pump during the peak U.S. summer driving season. Paul Vigna,Madeleine Lim and Steve Wisnefski discuss.
Wednesday's stock gains came despite concern overseas over disappointing German manufacturing data. Germany is considered one of Europe's strongest economies, and the drop in manufacturing orders prompted concerns over how economic struggles among its euro-zone counterparts might be impacting the country.
The dollar fell against the euro, reversing earlier gains. The U.S. Dollar Index, which reflects the U.S. currency against a basket of six others, slipped 0.2%. Treasurys also fell as investors felt more comfortable edging away from safety assets toward riskier ones. The drop pushed the yield on the 10- year note up to 2.99%.
Among commodities, gold climbed and crude-oil futures jumped above $74 a barrel.
Among stocks in focus, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group climbed 5.5%. The company raised its 2010 earnings forecast due to upbeat second-quarter guidance and projections for lower fleet costs for the rest of the year, though the nation's third-largest rental firm reduced its vehicle rental revenue expectations.
American depositary shares of BP climbed 2.9%. Chief Executive Tony Hayward met with Abu Dhabi's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a visit to the oil-rich sheikdom Wednesday, and said that he would be happy to see the city state's sovereign-wealth fund buy a stake of up to 10% in BP, a person with knowledge of the meeting told Zawya Dow Jones.
