Wall Street gains on earnings outlooks, financials

By Caroline Valetkevitch

March 25, 2010 5:00 PM EDT

Stocks jumped on Thursday as Qualcomm and Best Buy boosted their profit outlooks and financials surged for a second day.

Financials led the S&P 500's advance, with shares of Citigroup Inc jumping 4.8 percent to $4.35 after Bloomberg News reported the Treasury could unveil a plan next month for the sale of its stake in the big bank.

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Wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc led the Nasdaq up slightly over 1 percent.

Electronics retailer Best Buy Co forecast stronger-than-expected earnings for the current year on improved demand and reported above-expectations quarterly results.

Best Buy gained 5.3 percent to $43.38, while shares of Corning , which makes glass for liquid crystal displays, jumped 3 percent to $20.05.

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"People are looking to earnings right now to see how consumers (are doing) and whether the recovery is taking hold," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 108.53 points, or 1.00 percent, at 10,944.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 12.54 points, or 1.07 percent, at 1,180.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 31.78 points, or 1.32 percent, at 2,430.51.

Qualcomm's stock rose 6 percent to $42.61 after it raised its second-quarter earnings outlook.

Shares of Oracle rose 1.6 percent to $26.18 ahead of its results, expected after the day's close.

First-quarter earnings reports, due in the coming weeks, are forecast to show year-over-year gains.

Adding to the positive tone, data showed the number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance fell sharply last week.

Other financial shares with sharp gains included Bank of America , up 3.9 percent at $18.26. The S&P financial index <.GSPF> was up 2.4 percent at midday, and it is up 11.1 percent for the month so far.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)