MarketView for May 7

Summary

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 15,000 for the first time on Tuesday and the S&P 500 ended at another record high, extending the market's rally as more investors rushed to join the party and German industrial data beat expectations. It was the fourth straight record close for the S&P 500. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 hit intraday record highs as well.

Nine of the S&P 500's 10 sector indexes advanced. Shares of JPMorgan Chase were up 2 percent at $49.14, and led the S&P 500's climb. Caterpillar rose 2.5 percent to $89.79 and ranked as the Dow's top percentage gainer.

Information technology bucked the trend, however, with Apple declining after three days of gains. The stock ended the day down 0.4 percent at $458.66, while the S&P 500 technology index fell 0.2 percent.

Investors' sentiment was buoyed early in the day by data from Germany, Europe's largest economy, which reported a 2.2 percent increase in industrial orders in March, compared with expectations for a drop of 0.5 percent.

During the session, the Dow hit an all-time intraday high at 15,056.67, while the S&P 500 touched a record intraday high at 1,626.03. For the year so far, the S&P 500 has climbed 14 percent.

After the bell, shares of Whole Foods rose 8.4 percent to $100.60 after it reported a higher second-quarter profit. Shares of department store chain J.C. Penney (JCP.N) gained 1.5 percent to $16.65 in extended-hours trading after it reported preliminary first-quarter results.

In regular trading, the energy sector was driven higher by EOG Resources, which rose 7.7 percent to $135.69. The stock ranked as the S&P 500's second-biggest percentage gainer a day after EOG Resources reported first-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street's expectations.

The stock market's gains so far have come on strong corporate results and accommodative monetary policies from the Federal Reserve, two factors that may now be priced into markets. Last week's jobs report was unexpectedly strong and helped to drive stocks' advance. Stocks this year have gone without a sustained pullback as investors use any market decline to add to positions.

Both Fossil and DirecTV reported earnings that surged beyond expectations. Fossil's stock rose 9 percent to $107.88 and ranked as the No. 1 percentage gainer in the S&P 500. DirecTV shares were up 6.9 percent to close at $61.95.

Earnings have largely been better than expected. About 68.5 percent of S&P 500 companies have surpassed estimates so far. At the same time, revenues have been disappointing.

Approximately 5.8 billion shares changed hands on the three major equity exchanges, a  below the average daily closing volume of about 6.4 billion this year.

Consumer Credit Falls

Consumer credit recorded its smallest increase in eight months in March, a possible hint that Americans are still trying to pare their debts. Consumer installment credit rose by $7.97 billion to $2.81 trillion, the Federal Reserve said on Tuesday. It was the smallest increase since July and well below economists' expectations for a $16 billion rise.

For the first quarter, the total flow of credit rose at an annual rate of $157.1 billion, slowing from a $177.7 billion increase in the last three months of 2012.

Revolving credit, which mostly measures credit-card use, fell $1.71 billion after rising $453 million in February. Credit from depository institutions fell in March, while advances by financial institutions were unchanged.

Households built up a massive debt load as the housing bubble expanded. Efforts to pay down those debts have been a restraint on spending and the economy's recovery.

The drop in credit card usage casts doubt on views that household deleveraging is almost over, as recently suggested by other data that had fueled hopes consumers might soon borrow and spend more freely.

Non-revolving credit in March, which includes auto loans and student loans made by the government, chalked up a gain of $9.68 billion in March. That followed an $18.18 billion increase in February.

Over the past year, non-revolving credit from the federal government increased $108 billion, mostly reflecting increased tuition fees.