U.S. stocks move sharply higher; Disney jumps

Lifted by unemployment claims news, Disney earnings

2/6/2014

NEW YORK — Stocks are sharply higher on Wall Street as investors reacted to encouraging news on unemployment gains and a strong earnings report from Disney.

The market was rebounding a day after small losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 152 points, or 1 percent, to 15,592 as of noon today.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 17 points, or 1 percent, to 1,769. The Nasdaq composite gained 45 points, or 1.2 percent, to 4,057.

Disney jumped 5 percent after the media company reported earnings late Wednesday that beat analysts’ estimates. Disney got a lift from its movie hit “Frozen” and sales of the “Disney Infinity” video game.

Akamai Technologies jumped 19 percent after a strong earnings report. Twitter plunged 21 percent as investors worried about slower growth.