Stocks Surge on Wall Street as Intel's Warning and Economic Events Fail to Deter

Stocks on Wall Street continued their upward trend on March 12, 2015, despite Intel's warning on weaker-than-expected demand and economic events that showed a decline in retail sales and initial jobless claims. The Dow led the gains, while Intel shares dropped after the company lowered its Q1 revenue outlook.

Key Takeaways:

• Intel shares dropped $1.53, or 4.73%, to $30.80, after the company lowered its Q1 revenue outlook, citing weaker-than-expected demand for business desktop PCs and lower-than-expected inventory levels.
• Retail sales fell 0.6% in February, missing expectations for an increase of 0.3%, with sales excluding autos and gas declining 0.2%.
• Initial jobless claims fell to 289K, versus the consensus forecast for 305K first-time claims.
• The Bank of Korea cut rates for the third time since last August, lowering its base rate to the historical low level of 1.75%.
• Men's Wearhouse rose $4.22, or 8.78%, to $52.26 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 revenue.
• Neuralstem fell $1.37, or 36.63%, to $2.37 after the company announced top-line data from the Phase II trial of spinal cord-derived neural stem cells.

Statistics:

• Dow gained 259.83, or 1.47%, to 17,895.22.
• Nasdaq rose 43.35, or 0.89%, to 4,893.29.
• S&P 500 added 25.71, or 1.26%, to 2,065.95.
• Intel shares dropped 4.73% to $30.80.
• Men's Wearhouse rose 8.78% to $52.26.

Sources:

• TheFlyOnTheWall.com
• COMTEX
• Intel (INTC)
• Microsoft (MSFT)
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
• The Federal Reserve
• Deutsche Bank (DB)
• Banco Santander (SAN)
• Bank of America (BAC)
• Men's Wearhouse (MW)
• Lumber Liquidators (LL)
• Neuralstem (CUR)
• CONSOL Energy (CNX)
• Peabody (BTU)