Stocks Rise on Cisco, Pfizer

Gold and Oil Ease Again;
GM Slides on Downgrade
February 8, 2006 4:20 p.m

A rally in the pharmaceutical and technology sectors Wednesday helped salve Wall Street's wounds.
Solid earnings from Cisco Systems, along with news that Pfizer is considering selling its consumer-products unit, helped turn around a market that seemed to be only going lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had declined five of the last seven trading days on jitters over Iran and concerns about interest rates, gained 108.86 points, or 1.01%, to 10858.62.

Several components surged: Hewlett-Packard gained 5.4%; Pfizer added 5.7%; Verizon Communications rose 3.5%; and Johnson & Johnson tacked on 2.3%.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 10.87 to 1265.65 and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 22.02, or 1%, to 2266.98.

Gail Dudack, managing partner at Dudack Research Group [LLC], said worries about a confrontation with Iran have faded, and investors are able to turn their attention to more meaningful data, such as earnings. "While we're worried about Iran and oil, the reality is that nothing has changed" for stocks, she said.