Dow Hits a Five-Year High — Wednesday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | February 27, 2013 5:06 pm

[1] The Dow hit a new five-year high Wednesday as investors focused on a successful bond auction in Italy, and another round of solid housing news and decent earnings across the board, all the while speculating on what Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[2]) might say (which turned out to be nothing[3]) at its annual shareholder meeting in the afternoon.

The good feelings lasted throughout the day as the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1.26% to 14075.37, the S&P 500 ran ahead 1.27% to 1515.19 and the Nasdaq — despite a 1% decline in Apple — rose 1.04% to 3162.26.

The housing sector continued a recent strong run after the National Association of Realtors announced a surprising rise of 4.5% in pending home sales. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSE:XHB[4]) rose more than 2%, while homebuilders Hovnanian (NYSE:HOV[5], +4.7%), KB Home (NYSE:KB[6], +3.4%) and Lennar (NYSE:LEN[7], +2.5%) also saw shares rise on the day.

Shares of Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR[8]) soared over 10% after the discount retailer said it earned $1.01 per share on sales of $2.25 billion in the fourth quarter. The good news washed all over the sector, as Dollar General (NYSE:DG[9], +3.6%) and Family Dollar (NYSE:FDO[10], 2.5%) saw gains for the day.

Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN[11]) shares rose more than 2% after the online travel site beat profit forecasts. Shares of  TripAdvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP[12], +3.5%)  Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE[13], +2.2%) and Orbitz (NYSE:OWW[14], +1.8%) rallied in sympathy.

Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA[15]) continued a recent run, gaining more than 4% as New Jersey passed legislation allowing online gaming[16], joining Nevada and Delaware. And accessories retailer Coach (NYSE:COH[17]) rose over 2% on a rumor[18] the company might be up for sale.

Bucking the good feelings on the day was First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR[19]), which sank more than 13% after the renewable energy firm missed sales forecasts.

Earnings notables for Thursday include Best Buy (NYSE:BBY[20]), Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS[21]), and Gap (NYSE:GPS[22]).

Three Up

• Mako Surgical (NASDAQ:MAKO[23]): Up 9.9% ($1.09) to $12.09.
• Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN[24]): Up 7.8% (43 cents) to $5.98.
• RadioShack (NYSE:RSH[25]): Up 7.2% (22 cents) to $3.28. (Read more here[26])

Three Down

• IAMGOLD (NYSE:IAG[27]): Down 4.6% (34 cents) to $7.12.
• Teradata (NYSE:TDC[28]): Down 3.4% ($2.04) to $58.38.
• Lorillard (NYSE:LO[29]): Down 1.7% (66 cents) to $38.84.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he was long AAPL.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/02/dow-hits-a-five-year-high-wednesdays-ip-market-recap/

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