Wall Street rally leads Dow above 10,000

US stocks rallied strongly today, pushing the Dow above the 10,000 mark, as investors grew hopeful for the upcoming earnings season.
It was the third-biggest one-day gain of the year.
Financial stocks, including JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, led the climb, boosted by a rosy earnings forecast from State Street and as details on euro-zone bank stress tests removed some uncertainty.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 274.66 points, or 2.82 per cent, to 10018.28, its biggest one-day gain since May 27 and highest close since June 28. The measure is now up 2.5 per cent for the month but still down 3.93 per cent for the year.
All 30 of the measure's components rose. Cisco Systems was the measure's top performer with a jump of $US1.14, or 5.3 per cent, to $US22.48.
The Dow's financial components were also strong, with JP Morgan up $US1.82, or 5 per cent, to $US38.15, and Bank of America up US65 cents, or 4.6 per cent, to $US14.71. The sector was boosted by a projection from money-manager State Street for second-quarter profit well above analysts' forecasts.
State Street, which isn't a Dow component, leapt $US3.29, or 9.9 per cent, to $US36.63.
Also lifting financials, Europe's banking supervisor named the 91 banks that it will test for resilience to risks and laid out the key features included in the tests. The banks are being tested individually but following a common set of criteria. The results will be made public on July 23.
Investors found it encouraging to learn more of the details about the test, as uncertainty about it had been weighing on financial stocks in Europe as well as in the US.
US financial stocks "have been under a lot of pressure with what's going on in Europe," said Pete Kwiatkowski, director of growth and income Strategies at Fifth Third Asset Management.
"The more transparency that comes out in Europe and as people get a little bit more comfortable with things in Europe, that's certainly going to help the financials."
The Nasdaq Composite rose 65.59 points, or 3.13 per cent, to 2159.47. The Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 32.21 points, or 3.13 per cent, to 1060.27. All of the measure's categories rose, led by the financial sector, which leapt more than 4 per cent.
The measures extended yesterday's gains, bouncing back from a rough losing streak last week that sent stocks to their lowest point this year.
Stocks have been weighed by worries about the global economy, but investors are growing hopeful that a strong earnings season can propel the market out of the slump.
Boosting expectations for the second-quarter reports was State Street's earnings forecasts.
"It's a good sign for earnings," said John Butters, director of US earnings research at Thomson Reuters. But he added: "The focus really will be what they say for Q3."
The technology sector was also strong today. Global storage leader EMC Corp said it agreed to acquire Greenplum, a privately held data-warehousing company that specialises in analysing large amounts of information.
Today's US stock gains came despite concern overseas over disappointing German manufacturing data. Germany is considered one of Europe's strongest economies, and the drop in manufacturing orders prompted concerns over how economic struggles among its euro-zone counterparts might be impacting the country.
American depositary shares of BP climbed.
BP chief executive Tony Hayward met with Abu Dhabi's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a visit to the oil-rich sheikdom, and said that he would be happy to see the city state's sovereign wealth fund buy a stake of up to 10 per cent in BP, a person with knowledge of the meeting told Zawya Dow Jones.
In the bond markets, US Treasuries dropped today in slow trading as equities rose and as market participants began to consider the US government's next round of Treasury note and bond auctions.
In recent trade, Treasuries maturing in the next seven to 30 years were lagging behind; those maturing in two to five years were down more modestly.
Losses came as stocks rallied after good earnings forecasts in the financial sector and deal activity in the technology sector lifted sentiment. Earnings reports will start to file in next week. Investors are hopeful that strong results could pull the market from its slump.
Treasuries' price drop marks a break from the market's recent rally. Treasuries have rallied hard in recent months as weaker US economic data and worries about debt laden euro-zone nations have sparked fears that the pace of the economic recovery is slowing.
In late New York trading, the two-year note was flat to yield 0.625 per cent, the 10-year was off 15/32 to yield 2.986 per cent and the 30-year was down by 1 10/32 to 3.962 per cent. On June 30, the two-year yield fell to a record low of 0.586 per cent. On July 1, the 10-year yield fell as low as 2.880 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 2.8 per cent.
"Thoughts of the (Treasury) auctions are weighing a bit," said Carl Lantz, a fixed-income strategist at Credit Suisse in New York.
"Treasuries are doing relatively well considering the gains we've seen in the stock market," he said, with investors reluctant to part with too many Treasuries given the way the market has traded the last few months.