By positive earnings reports push U.S. stocks continue to rise late Monday, the Dow hit a two and a half high. Investors this week will announce earnings and Obama optimistic State of the Union is expected to promote the stock market higher.
EST at 15:29 on January 24, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 81.17 points to 11,953.01 points, or 0.68%; the Nasdaq composite index rose 23.29 points to 2,712.83 points, or 0.87%; the S & P 500 Index rose 4.45 points to 1,287.80 points, or 0.35%.
Monday's trading session the Dow rose to its highest at 11,982.94 points, hitting a 2-year and a half high.
Alcoa (AA) to a 3.4% gain in the Dow's biggest gainers. Dow 30 stocks Intel (INTC) rose 1.7%, the chip maker announced a 15% dividend increase and stock repurchase plan approved by the size of its increase of 100 billion U.S. dollars. United Technologies Corp. (UTX) up 1.4%, the company will report earnings after the bell on Monday. American Express (AXP) will report earnings after the bell today, and its shares fell 1.1%.
Dow component, fast-food giant McDonald's (MCD) rose 0.4%. The company announced fourth-quarter net profit rose 2.1%, in line with market expectations. But investors at the end of this company same-store sales growth was slowing down. McDonald's December same-store sales increase of 2.6%, only about half of the increase in the previous two months.
Some investors believe the market rally on Monday, investors may be due to recent stock market declines are not much comfort.
Chase Investment Counsel institutional investors, portfolio manager and quantitative analyst Brian - (Brian Lazorishak) said, "the stock market has experienced a slight pullback. Perhaps the rise in the stock market today as investors were relieved during the callback But I expect the correction will go farther. "