FedEx's earnings forecast helps boost Wall Street

Dow Jones:11,774.59 (+161.29) S&P 500:1,273.72 (+16.84) Nasdaq:2,636.05 (+19.23)

US STOCKS rallied yesterday, breaking a three-day losing streak for the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, amid investor speculation that Japan will contain a nuclear crisis and as FedEx’s profit forecast beat estimates.

“The market is oversold”, said Mike Ryan, the New York-based head of wealth management research for the Americas at UBS Financial Services, which oversees $741 billion.

“The major focus is on whether or not Japan will be able to get any kind of containment on the nuclear reactors. The G7 meeting is constructive as they are probably going to talk about what type of aid they may provide. There’s also the unrest in northern Africa and the Middle East. The corporate outlook will help, but it’s still going to be about headline and geopolitical risks,” he said.

The S&P 500 had tumbled 6.4 per cent from its 32-month high in February through yesterday amid concern Japan’s worst earthquake on record and uprisings in the Middle East and northern Africa will derail the global economic recovery.

The yen strengthened to a post-second World War high as the Group of Seven officials prepare to meet today to discuss the threat to the world’s third-largest economy from a worsening nuclear crisis.

FedEx rose 3.1 per cent to $87.89. Per share earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter ending May 31st will be $1.66 to $1.83, the company said yesterday. Analysts had projected $1.66, the average of 22 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

JPMorgan rose 1.7 per cent to $44.56.

Bank of America added 2.1 per cent to $13.98.

Qualcomm was up 3.6 per cent to $52.32. The largest producer of mobile-phone chips said it expects last week’s Japanese earthquake and tsunami to have a limited effect on its supplies.

Hewlett-Packard rallied 3.2 per cent to $41.43, while Apple gained 1.4 per cent to $334.64.

Crude oil climbed the most in three weeks on concern that unrest in North Africa and the Middle East will spread. Oil rose 3.5 per cent to $101.42 a barrel.

Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services provider, gained 4.8 per cent to $87.05.

ConocoPhillips added 4 per cent to $76.72. – (Bloomberg)