Dow rises more than 150 points on strong earnings from IBM

[tacobell fan]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Wednesday on the back of strong quarterly earnings from companies like IBM, United Technologies and Procter & Gamble. 

The 30-stock index rose 40 points. However, it had gained nearly 300 points earlier in the day.  The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, traded lower amid declines in financials and technology shares.Dow members United Technologies and Procter & Gamble both rose more than 4 percent after reporting better-than-expected earnings. IBM, another Dow component, jumped 7.9 percent.

“Ultimately, when you look at the data, the thing that matters most to the market is earnings,” said Andres Garcia-Amaya, founder of Zoe Financial. “I would say the technology sector is one that could make or break the story for equities. If you look at margins for the sector versus the other sectors, it’s by far the largest.”

“If you start to actually see margins for the technology sector deteriorate, that’s going to basically be something investors are not going to be happy about,” Garcia-Amaya said.