S&P 500 ends at highest in two months; Alphabet up after hours

By Caroline Valetkevitch

(Reuters) - The S&P 500 closed at its highest in two months on Thursday as stronger-than-expected earnings from several top companies, including McDonald's, relieved investors' concerns about the profit outlook.

Buying accelerated after the close, with broad gains in tech and other companies that reported results, including Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), up 9.6 percent at $746.78, and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), up 7.2 percent at $51.50. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) rose 10.6 percent to $623.75 after it posted results.

Nasdaq 100 futures jumped after the close as well, and were up about 17 percent from the 2015 intraday low hit on Aug. 24.

During the regular session, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) shares jumped 8.1 percent to $110.87, giving the Dow its biggest boost, after its quarterly results beat estimates as demand recovered in China.

EBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) rose 13.9 percent to $27.58 after it reported better-than-expected results late on Wednesday.

Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) rose 5.1 percent to $49.92 after its results, while the S&P materials index <.SPLRCM> jumped 2.8 percent and led the S&P sector gains along with the industrials <.SPLRCI>, also up 2.8 percent.

In another sign of diminished concerns, the CBOE Volatility Index <.VIX> - the market's favored barometer of volatility - closed at a 2-month low.

"Corporate earnings certainly helped because the season started off sort of sluggish and you had some nice surprises today," said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management Corp. in Chicago.

Investors have been concerned about weak third-quarter earnings after some disappointing early results. S&P 500 earnings still are estimated to have fallen 3.3 percent in the quarter compared with a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 320.55 points, or 1.87 percent, to 17,489.16, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 33.57 points, or 1.66 percent, to 2,052.51 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 79.93 points, or 1.65 percent, to 4,920.05.

Adding to the day's optimism, ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank could extend its stimulus program beyond 2016 to boost euro zone growth and boost inflation closer to 2 percent.

Data on Thursday showed new claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by 3,000 to 259,000 last week, below the 265,000 expected, while existing home sales increased more than expected to an annual rate of 5.55 million units in September.

The Federal Reserve, which kept U.S. interest rates unchanged near zero in September, has said it will wait for signs of global economic resilience before pulling the trigger on its first rate hike in nearly a decade.

Nine of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher. Only healthcare <.SPXHC> appeared immune to the upbeat mood, declining about 0.5 percent.

Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) sank 35.1 percent to $26.30 after it gave a disappointing revenue outlook. It dragged down shares of other hospital operators.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,312 to 791, for a 2.92-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,777 issues rose and 1,001 fell for a 1.78-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 41 new 52-week highs and 9 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 82 new highs and 91 new lows.

About 8.0 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, compared with the 7.2 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

(Editing by James Dalgleish and Dan Grebler)

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