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NEW YORK >> Investors attracted by lower prices but still wary of first-quarter earnings sent stocks soaring today, a break from last week's declines. The Dow Jones industrials climbed more than 140 points but volume was light, a sign that many investors want to see more profit reports before making any major moves. Bargain hunting hands
Dow 140-point boostBy Amy Baldwin
Associated Press"I think guys are going to stay flexible until they see some conviction. There is a reluctance by large institutions to really commit to the market. This isn't a momentum driven market," said Michael Murphy, head trader at Wachovia Securities.
Although stocks were quite a temptation, Wall Street was still concerned after hearing companies say first-quarter and yearly results will be soft. The market is again focused primarily on earnings and economic news, paying less attention to the war in Iraq now that allied success seems assured.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was very light.
The Dow closed up 147.69, or 1.8 percent, at 8,351.10. The blue chips more than erased last week's loss of 0.9 percent.
The broader market also finished sharply higher. The Nasdaq composite index rose 26.10, or 1.9 percent, to 1,384.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 16.93, or 2 percent, to 885.23. The Russell 2000 index rose 6.31, or 1.7 percent, to 377.61.
The price of the Treasury's 10-year note was down 5/16 point, while its yield rose to 4.01 percent from 3.97 percent late Friday. Two-year Treasury notes were down 1/8 point and yielded 1.71 percent, up from 1.64 percent late Friday.
Despite today's advance, analysts don't expect many big upswings on Wall Street for a while. But they predict the market will hold up well in the coming weeks as companies report their results; analysts say the numbers will look far better than those of last year's first quarter.
"The markets have some reasonably good comparisons to work off of and expectations are fairly low. And, that that being the case, we might get through this earnings season without too much psychological damage or market damage," said A.C. Moore, chief investment strategist for Dunvegan Associates in Santa Barbara, Calif.
In economic news today, the Commerce Department reported business inventories grew by 0.6 percent in February, while sales declined by 1 percent, the biggest drop since November 2001.
Citigroup climbed $1.08 to $38.43 after posting first-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts' expectations by 2 cents a share. Bank of America rose 66 cents to $72 on profits that beat Wall Street's forecast by 11 cents a share.
IBM advanced $1.32 to $80.07 in advance of its earnings report scheduled to be released later today.
Intel rose 40 cents to $17.16 ahead of its quarterly results due out tomorrow.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average finished up 1.7 percent. In Europe, France's CAC-40 climbed 1.3 percent, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.1 percent and Germany's DAX index gained 1.6 percent.
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