Dow Falls 51 on Housing

Markets propelled by strong earnings from Intel, JPMorgan

(AP) - The Dow Jones industrial average reached 10,000 today for the first time since Oct. 7, 2008. The milestone, which triggered a whoop from the trading floor, was buoyed by surprisingly strong earnings reports from Intel and JPMorgan. The latter stoked the market's optimism as it handily beat Wall Street's expectations, reporting a profit of $3.59 billion for the July-September period. More»

'Teflon investors' are relying on the good news

(NEWSER) - Stocks are surging while classic indicators are signaling slump — so what gives? The answer, reports the Washington Post, lies in a bright jobs report and spiking Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. Backers are dissing the bad news as fast as they can finance, says the Post: "Call them the Teflon investors." More»

But credit worries still lurking

(NEWSER) - The Dow rebuffed Wall St.'s bearish ambiance today, picking up 92.84 points to close at 13,358.31. One analyst says the weekend calmed jitters that led to a 500 point bloodletting at the end of last week, and a day without any major economic shakeups or earnings reports had brokers "looking at the numbers and realizing things aren't so bad." More»

It's Dow's best finish since 2008

(NEWSER) - Today's rosy jobs report did wonders for the markets. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, in fact, closed at an 11-year high, reports MarketWatch , while the Dow finished at its highest level since May 2008, notes the Wall Street Journal . The numbers:

• Dow: Up 157, 1.2%, to 12,862
• Nasdaq: Up 46, 1.6%, to 2,906
• S&P 500: Up 19, 1.5%, to 1,345

Market has its best day this month

(AP) - Encouraging signs out of Europe and a surprisingly strong report on the US housing market drove the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 330 points today. It was the best day for stocks this month. The Spanish government pulled off a successful debt auction, and gauges of business and consumer confidence in Germany rose unexpectedly. The Commerce Department, meanwhile, said builders broke ground on 685,000 new homes last month, a 9.3% jump from October. That's the highest level since April 2010. More»