Dow Industrials Rally 71 Points As Profits Shine
STRONG EARNINGS reports from International Business Machines and Merrill Lynch propelled the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index to a fresh four-year high.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 71.57 points, or 0.68%, to 10646.56, a four-month high. It still is down 1.3% for 2005. The S&P 500 rose 0.67%, or 8.22 points, to 1229.35, now up 1.4% this year.</br></br>The Nasdaq Composite Index, home to most technology stocks (though not NYSE-listed IBM), jumped 1.32%, or 28.31 points, to 2173.18. The Nasdaq is at its highest level since the start of January and near its own four-year high, down only 0.1% since the end of 2004.</br></br>"The market continues to be led by two sectors, energy and technology," said Tim Heekin, trading director at San Francisco brokerage firm Thomas Weisel Partners.</br></br>After regular hours, investors received mixed earnings news. Amgen reported better-than-expected results and rose 8% in after-hours trading. But Intel and Motorola fell 1% and 4% respectively after hours, as their profits barely exceeded analyst forecasts. Tech investors now are harder to impress, which could make gains harder.