New York — Positive earnings reports and encouraging words about the economy from Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan combined to push stock prices solidly higher Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 65.11, or 0.7 percent, at 9,796.07. The broader market also finished higher, boosted primarily by the technology sector.
Among Wall Street's winners, data storage systems giant EMC rose $2.27 to $16.83 after reporting a fourth-quarter loss of 4 cents a share, 3 cents better than analysts expected, and said it would be profitable in 2002.
UnitedHealth, beating earnings estimates by 3 cents a share, gained $1.93 to $74.33.
Microsoft rose 92 cents to $64.66, Intel climbed 75 cents to $33.20, and IBM advanced 82 cents to $108.72.
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