Stocks rallied, with the Dow closing near a 5-year high, as upbeat economic reports offset mixed corporate results. Housing starts jumped 12.1% in December, the biggest gain since June 2008. Jobless claims declined by 37,000 to 335,000, the lowest level since January 2008. On the corporate front, Bank of America lost 4.2% after the co. reported a 63% decline in fourth-quarter profit. Citigroup fell 2.9% after the bank reported a profit rise that came in below estimates. Cisco Systems fell 0.4% after J.P. Morgan reduced its rating to underweight from neutral. Slight losses also came from Apple and Hewlett-Packard. Meanwhile, Intel gained 2.6% after the co. released earnings, which fell from the year-earlier period, but were above consensus. EBay also rose 2.4% after the co. reported revenue that exceeded some estimates. In the evening trade Intel 5%, giving up earlier gains. Capital One sank 7.5% as a surge in the credit-card lender’s fourth-quarter earnings wasn’t strong enough to surpass Wall Street’s expectations.
