Stocks Keep Pushing the Ceiling -- Wednesday's IP Market Recap

Stocks Keep Pushing the Ceiling — Wednesday’s IP Market Recap

An accidental early leak of Fed minutes does wonders for the bulls

By Marc Bastow, InvestorPlace Assistant Editor Apr 10, 2013, 4:56 pm EST April 10, 2013

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 kept ripping pages out of the record book Wednesday after an accidental early release of the Fed’s most recent minutes indicated a continuation of its monetary easing policy through mid-2013.

Investors were also encouraged by a report showing a 10% year-over-year increase in trade with China.

The Dow — which was powered by tech components Intel (NASDAQ:INTC, +2.5%), Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO, +2%) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT, +2%) — rose 0.88% to set a new high of 14082.24.

Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) joined the tech surge after announcing they are in discussions to expand their partnership in Apple’s iOS platform, helping the Nasdaq to a huge 1.83% improvement to 3297.25, and pushing the S&P 500 1.22% to a new high-water mark of 1587.73. Apple and Yahoo each finished up around 2%, with the latter trading around five-year highs.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) stock rose nearly 4% after unveiling a new way to monetize users that involves gathering data from outside the social network, such as spending patterns. Also Wednesday, General Motors (NYSE:GM) said it would start advertising its latest subcompact offering, the Chevrolet Sonic, on the social website, ending a one-year long hiatus from the site.

The day wasn’t as kind to solar panel manufacturer First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR), which retreated 7% following Tuesday’s massive guidance-fueled run-up. Jinksolar (NYSE:JKS, -6.9%) and Sunpower (NASDAQ:SPWR, -5.4%) saw similar selloffs.

Computer networking company Adtran (NASDAQ:ADTN) soared nearly 14% on a huge first-quarter earnings beat, while Family Dollar (NYSE:FDO) missed earnings estimates and provided weak forward guidance, yet still saw shares improve more than 1%.

And lastly, homebuilder Taylor Morrison (NYSE:TMHC) started its first day as a public company with a bang, jumping over 4% after pricing at the high end of its range.