The Dow Jones Industrial Average, up four of the past five days, rose this morning by more than 172 points to over 11,456, a gain of about 1.5%. Continuing to ride the liquidity rally on hopes of a possible QE3 announcement from the Fed, as well as Warren Buffett’s $5 billion vote of confidence in Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), not a single Dow stock was in negative territory in early morning action. For the past five days of trading, the Dow is up more than 5.5%, with bullish sentiment this morning at 55%.
Bank of America was up in premarket trading and continued to rise after the opening bell, picking up about 30 cents per share to around $8.10, over 3.7% higher. Buffett’s investment and the announced sale of its shares in China Construction Bank continued to please investors. For the past five days of trading, Bank of America is up 11.33%.
Also up more than 3% to over $18.90 was Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), climbing higher by more than 60 cents per share. Pfizer was upgraded by Citigroup because of the market potential of new drugs. Earlier in August, PFE was upgraded by Argus and Standpoint Research. Pfizer is up almost 18% for the year.
Shares of Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) were up more than $1.70 to over $87, jumping more than 2%. In an interview with the Financial Times, Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman said he was more upbeat now about business prospects than at the beginning of the year, citing conversations with customers. The Big Cat is up about 6.5% for the week but down more than 18% for the quarter on disappointing earnings.
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) was returning into positive territory for the year thanks to its shares rising more than 2% this morning to over $37, a gain of more than 75 cents. Up more than 5% for the past week, JPMorgan is around 0.33% higher for the year. JPMorgan also prevailed in the contest to buy commercial real estate assets from Anglo Irish Bank.
Despite a recent downgrade by RBC Capital Markets, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) rose by more than 60 cents per share, or more than 2.4%, to over $25.40. Since the biggest restructuring in company history was announced Aug. 18, share prices for Hewlett-Packard have fluctuated widely. As a result, its beta is now above the market average. HPQ is up more than 5% for the past week but down more than 30% for the month.
After a strong week, Home Depot (NYSE:HD) was flat this morning, with share prices hanging around $34. Home Depot is up more than 6.6% for the week and more than 21% for the year thanks to solid earnings. But recent housing data shows the country has a long way to go to recover. A significant bump expected from the fallout of Hurricane Irene did not develop either, as storm damage was less than feared.
Jonathan Yates does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
