Stocks rally from early losses
Traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday. U.S. stocks opened mixed but closed higher as European leaders work to hammer out a bailout deal for Greece.
NEW YORK — Stocks staged an afternoon-long rally and closed higher Wednesday as Greece appeared to close in on the cost-cutting deal it needs to keep from defaulting on its national debt.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 5.75 points to close at 12,883.95 after falling as much as 60 points at midday. It was the Dow’s highest close since May 19, 2008, the last time it finished above 13,000.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up 2.91 points to 1,346.96. The Nasdaq composite rose 11.78 points to 2,915.86, its highest close since December 2000.
After three days of delays, Greek government leaders met in Athens to go over a deal on steep cuts in public spending demanded by the country’s lenders. European leaders will meet Thursday in Brussels to discuss a bailout for Greece.
Stock trading has been relatively quiet this week after a slow but steady rise since the beginning of the year. The Dow has added 2 percent in February and is up 5.5 percent for the year.
Rick Fier, vice president of stock trading at Conifer Securities in New York, said he wasn’t that worried that the market’s advance has slowed this week. The S&P 500 is still up 7.3 percent for the year and has fallen on only eight days in 2012.
Fier said he is concerned that the batch of earnings reports from U.S. companies for the last three months of last year “hasn’t been as robust” as previous quarters. Revenue growth has slowed even though profits have been strong, he said.
In other news:
CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT: The big casino operator soared on its first day of trading. Caesars went as high as $17.90, nearly double its offering price of $9 per share. It finished at $15.39, up 71 percent, but lost some of the gains in after-hours trading. Caesars raised $16 million, a sliver of the more than $500 million its private owners hoped for when they first tried to go public in late 2010.
RALPH LAUREN: It rose 9 percent after reporting higher net income and revenue in the latest quarter, a sign that wealthy customers are still spending even as the economy struggles with high unemployment. The purveyor of $1,000 dresses and handbags said holiday sales had been strong.
BUFFALO WILD WINGS: The chicken-and-beer chain that has bucked the trend of weak revenue dogging many of its competitors, shot up 17 percent after reporting income and revenue that easily beat analysts’ estimates.
SPRINT NEXTEL: The phone company fell 2 percent after reporting a fourth-quarter loss. It added subscribers but had to pay dearly for them. Sprint started offering customers iPhones, but it had to subsidize them so customers could buy them for as little as $99.
CVS CAREMARK: Its fourth-quarter earnings climbed nearly 4 percent as the drugstore operator’s pharmacy services revenue swelled because of a long-term contract and new business.
VISA: Its fiscal first-quarter profit rose 16 percent as card use rose both in the U.S. and overseas.
AMGEN BONE DRUG: A panel of cancer experts voted against a new use for Amgen’s Xgeva in prostate cancer, saying the drug’s ability to slow the spread of the disease did not translate into meaningful benefits for patients.
MCDONALD’S: A key revenue figure climbed 6.7 percent in January as U.S. customers spent more on breakfast items, beverages and its new Chicken McBites.
TIME WARNER: It got a boost from its movie studio and cable TV networks in the last three months of the year, and the company expects growth to continue in 2012 even with the end of its lucrative Harry Potter franchise.
CISCO: The world’s largest maker of computer networking equipment says its net income jumped 44 percent in the latest quarter as it continues to put last year’s slump behind it. The company has emerged leaner after a round of layoffs and a narrowing of its focus.
NOKIA: It plans to end the assembly of cellphones in Europe by year-end as it shifts production to Asia and cuts another 4,000 jobs, its latest attempt to cushion its finances from stiff competition.
SANOFI: The French drugmaker warned that its earnings could drop as much as 15 percent this year as some of its aging blockbusters go off patent in the U.S.
NISSAN: Quarterly profit rose 3 percent on healthier sales that offset production damage from flooding in Thailand and a battering from the strong yen.
BHP BILLITON: The world’s biggest miner said first-half profit fell 5.5 percent to $9.9 billion on lower commodity prices and production constraints.
OPENTABLE: The company, which lets people book tables at restaurants online, plunged 12 percent. Investors had reservations about the company’s cautious outlook. Executives said they expect the growth to slow this quarter in the number of diners it seats.