S&P 500 Index Rises to Highest Level Since June 2008 on Improving Earnings - Bloomberg

U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its highest level since June 2008, as earnings at companies from 3M Co. (MMM) to United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) and Ford Motor Co. (F) topped analysts’ estimates.

3M, the maker of products including Scotch tape, rose 1.9 percent. UPS, the world’s largest package-delivery company and considered a proxy for economic growth, added 0.9 percent after also raising its earnings forecast. Ford, the second-largest U.S. automaker, gained 0.8 percent after reporting a 22 percent jump in profit as vehicle prices increased. Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) soared 11 percent as the second-biggest carrier reported a smaller loss than analysts estimated amid higher fares.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.9 percent to 1,347.24 at 4 p.m. in New York, the highest level since June 17, 2008. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 115.49 points, or 0.9 percent, to 12,595.37, also at an almost three-year high.

“The earnings season has been amazingly strong,” said E. William Stone, who helps oversee about $108 billion as chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia. “That’s very encouraging. It’s a testament to the global growth story. If you are a believer that earnings are sustainable, stocks certainly do not look expensive yet.”

Before today, the S&P 500 had failed to surpass its 2011 high from Feb. 18 after closing within 1 percent of that level eight times in April. The benchmark gauge fell as much as 6.4 percent from Feb. 18 through March 16 as Japan was struck by its strongest earthquake on record, straining the third-largest economy, and concern grew about budget deficits in European countries including Greece and Portugal. More ...