Thread: Home Depot Helps Build Rally As Dow Flirts With 13,000

2/21/2012 @ 11:47AM |1,476 views

Home Depot Helps Build Rally As Dow Flirts With 13,000

The Dow Jones industrial average briefly breached the 13,000 level shortly before midday Tuesday, with retailer Home Depot among the components leading the way.

Shares of the home improvement retailer rallied after fourth-quarter sales grew 5.9% to $16 billion to drive earnings per share to 50 cents, well above the consensus estimate of 42 cents. Same-store sales were up 5.7% from a year earlier, and 6.1% in the U.S.

Home Depot’s upbeat profit report comes as sentiment is growing around a housing recovery. While foreclosures and the shadow inventory of homes that will come to market once conditions improve remain issues, housing data continues to show signs of improvement, including last week’s index of builder sentiment from the National Association of Home Builders, which hit its best level since May 2007.

The 1.4% gain from Home Depot joined with similar gains from Bank of America, Caterpillar and oil giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil to help the 30-stock Dow overcome a 3.8% loss from Wal-Mart, which reported a mixed holiday quarter Tuesday morning and was keeping the index from topping the 13,000 threshold.

The index picked up speed despite a muted reaction to a second bailout package for Greece, which was approved earlier Tuesday but requires more work to be fully implemented. After topping the 13,000 mark around 11:24 a.m. in New York, the index drew back to 12,985, up 35 points, or 0.3% on the session.

Home Depot Helps Build Rally As Dow Flirts With 13,000 - Forbes

Does the fact this is a presidential election year have any impact on the upswing?

What will the number be this time next year?