Dow Gains 6, Nasdaq Up 9 on Intel Outlook
Wall Street tentatively extended its advance to a second day Friday as Intel issued an upbeat outlook for the third quarter.
The market’s gains were tempered by a note of caution in Intel’s outlook and by light trading, as many traders were away on vacation. Analysts also said stocks have little room to move higher right now, with indexes trading at levels not seen in more than a year. The Nasdaq composite index reached its highest point in 16 months earlier this week.
In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 6.18, or 0.1 percent, at 9,429.86, getting most of its boost from Intel, its biggest winner. On Thursday, the Dow gained 26.17.
The Nasdaq rose 8.67, or 0.5 percent, to 1,786.22, having gained 17.01 in the previous session.
But the Standard & Poor’s 500 index declined 2.41, or 0.2 percent, to 1,000.86.
Wall Street has been lurching higher for weeks as companies reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and some increased their estimates for future quarters.
Intel advanced $1.90 to $28.29 after raising its third-quarter sales forecast and saying its processor business is trending higher, although demand for communications products is still soft.
The chipmaker said it expects revenue in the current quarter to range between $7.3 billion and $7.8 billion, up from its previous forecast of $6.9 billion to $7.5 billion. The new sales estimate also tops the $7.24 billion analysts had forecast.
Intel’s news boosted fellow tech bellwethers. IBM rose $1.52 to $84.37 and Advanced Micro Devices, one of Intel’s competitors, advanced 69 cents to $10.12.
Among other gainers, Linens ‘n Things climbed $1.60 to $28.25 after CIBC World Markets raised its rating on the home furnishings retailer to “sector outperform” from “sector perform.”
Due to light volume and modest gains in the major indexes, declining issues managed to outnumber advancers 8 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume totaled 436.20 million shares, compared with 405.76 million shares at the same point Thursday.
The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, slipped 0.03 to 489.43.
Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average finished Friday down 0.8 percent. In afternoon trading in Europe, France’s CAC-40 rose 0.6 percent, Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.4 percent and Germany’s DAX index slipped 0.1 percent.
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