US: Stocks gain despite weak IBM earnings

[New York] US stocks rose on Monday, shaking off weak IBM earnings and extending the rally that began late last week even as European equity markets stumbled.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 16,397.04, up 16.63 points (0.10 per cent).

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 17.18 (0.91 per cent) to 1,903.94, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 57.64 (1.35 per cent) to 4,316.07.

Dow member IBM sank 7.2 percent after it reported a huge drop in profits and its 10th straight quarter of lower revenues.

The IBM results kept the blue-chip index in negative territory for most of the day. But the broader US equity market did well, while equity markets fell in Britain, France and Germany.

"The market corrected," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. Last week's losses "sort of cleared the decks for the markets to focus on the economy and, above all, on earnings." AFP