Earnings news lifts Wall Street

NEW YORK - When the Dow Jones industrial average first passed 10,000, 10 years ago, traders tossed commemorative caps and uncorked champagne. This time around, the feeling was more like relief.

Cheers went up briefly when the Dow eclipsed the milestone in the early afternoon, during a daylong rally driven by encouraging earnings reports from Intel Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

It was the first time the Dow had touched 10,000 since October 2008.

The Dow yesterday rose 144.80, or 1.47 percent, to 10,015.86, its biggest gain since Aug. 21 and highest close since Oct. 3 last year.

Broader indexes also climbed to 2009 highs. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 18.83, or 1.75 percent, to 1,092.02. The index, the basis of many mutual funds, is up 61.4 percent from a 12-year low in March.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 32.34, or 1.51 percent, to 2,172.23. It is up 71.2 percent since March.

JPMorgan, the first major bank to report third-quarter earnings, stoked the market's optimism as it easily beat Wall Street's expectations, reporting a profit of $3.59 billion for the July-to-September period. The stock, a Dow component, rose $1.50, or 3.29 percent, to $47.16.

Financial stocks have posted the biggest gains since the rally began, but they were also among the most decimated. JPMorgan shares are up 197 percent, and Bank of America Corp. shares are up 492 percent.

Intel also beat analysts' estimates, reporting a smaller-than-expected drop in profit and sales after the market closed Tuesday. Intel rose 34 cents, or 1.66 percent, to $20.83.

Individual investors remain cautious. In August, well into the rally, they put $11 into bond funds for every dollar they put into stock funds, according to the Investment Company Institute, the mutual fund trade group.

But they appear to be coming back, slowly, to stocks. Retail brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. reported an average of 431,000 trades a day in August, up from barely more than 300,000, when the market was sliding in January and February.

If the market can hold yesterday's milestone, investors should grow even more confident.

"It wouldn't surprise me if it made Joe Main Street more comfortable," said David Kelson, portfolio manager of Talon Asset Management, of Chicago.

Bond prices fell as stocks soared.

Oil jumped $1.03 to settle at $75.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 12.24, or 2.00 percent, to 623.94.