Microsoft and Countrywide outlooks lift market
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By Jennifer CooganNEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday after a higher profit forecast by Microsoft Corp. lifted all three major indexes and an upbeat outlook by lender Countrywide Financial Corp. stemmed fears of financial-sector losses.Microsoft lifted its full-year forecasts late on Thursday and reported quarterly profit that beat analysts' expectations, sending shares of the world's largest software maker up as much as 12.6 percent.Countrywide, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said the housing slump led to a $1.2 billion third-quarter loss, but it forecast a profit in the fourth quarter as it slashes jobs."Microsoft is a big factor, but you are also getting less negative news on the financial side, especially with Countrywide," said Sam Rahman, portfolio manager at Baring Asset Management Inc. "Those two things are providing a lot of support today."The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 69.01 points, or 0.50 percent, at 13,740.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 12.41 points, or 0.82 percent, at 1,526.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 39.16 points, or 1.42 percent, at 2,790.02.Crude was up 71 cents at $91.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, in electronic trading, oil reached a record high of $92.22, bumping up energy stocks.Schlumberger was up 1.1 percent at $99.17 and Occidental Petroleum was up 2.9 percent at $71.08.Shares of Microsoft jumped 9 percent to $34.86 on Nasdaq. Earlier, the stock hit $36.03, its highest since July 2001.Countrywide's stock shot up 30 percent to $17.05 on the New York Stock Exchange.Shares of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. jumped 6.9 percent to $65.09 after reports that Chief Executive Stan O'Neal may be on the way out. Merrill senior executive Robert McCann, who oversees the company's more than 16,000 brokers, has emerged as a possible candidate to replace the embattled O'Neal, according to people familiar with the situation.On Wednesday, Merrill reported huge write-downs for bad investments related to risky subprime mortgages.The New York Times reported on Friday that O'Neal met with Wachovia Corp. , the fourth-largest U.S. bank, about a merger.Speculation about a CEO exit were also moving shares of Time Warner .Shares of the media company were up 3.4 percent to $18.33 on a report in the Times of London that Richard Parsons plans to announce his departure as soon as next week.A Time Warner spokesman called the report a rumor.
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