NEW YORK — Investors piled into technology stocks again Thursday to extend the market’s rally.
Hope for more good earnings from technology leaders made the industry an attractive bet again, a day after a strong forecast from chipmaker Intel lifted stocks across the board.
The tech-laden Nasdaq composite index advanced for the seventh straight day and closed at its highest level since October as traders prepared for profit reports from Google and IBM. Both posted better-than-expected profits after the closing bell.
What appeared to be a turn in sentiment from economist and New York University professor Nouriel Roubini also helped lift the market. Reports said Roubini believed the worst of the economy’s troubles had passed, but in a statement after the close of trading, he said his views are unchanged. He doesn’t expect the economy to grow this year and still predicts the recession will end early next year.
Traders had welcomed what had appeared to be a turn in his sentiment because Roubini has been pessimistic about the economy and was one of the few experts to have predicted the global financial crisis.
Some analysts attributed the buying to short-covering, where investors have to buy stock after having earlier sold borrowed shares in a bet that the market would fall.
Stocks continued the week’s sprint-and-jog play, carving more modest gains after surging the day before. The market surged Monday, followed by a flatter day Tuesday.
The Dow rose 95.61, or 1.1 percent, to 8,711.82, its highest close since June 12. The blue chips are down 0.7 percent for the year.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 8.06, or 0.9 percent, to 940.74. The Nasdaq rose 22.13, or 1.2 percent, to 1,885.03, its best finish since Oct. 3.
Bond prices rose, pushing yields lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.58 percent from 3.62 percent late Wednesday.
“There’s still concern about the market and concern about the overall economy,” said Jon Biele, head of capital markets at Cowen & Co. “But the pessimism is moving to optimism. People certainly want to be in a position to gain from positive momentum.”
The jump in stocks this week halted a month-long slide that came as investors worried that a huge rally in March and April had gone too far as investors hoped for an economic recovery. This week’s earnings reports have given investors some confirmation that the economy isn’t as bad as feared, but they still want to see more evidence of a turnaround.
