Wall Street rallies on strong factory orders, corporation profits

Wall Street rallied Wednesday with the Dow Jones industrial average setting a new record high on strong factory orders and corporation profit.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that total factory orders rose by 3.1 percent in March, far better than the 2 percent figure that analysts expected.

Yum Brands Inc., parent of fast-food chains KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, reported a 14 percent increase in first-quarter earnings.

Shares of MasterCard Incorporated, the world's second-biggest credit card franchise rose almost 10 percent, as it announced Wednesday financial results for the first-quarter 2007 with net income of 215 million dollars, or 1.57 dollars per share, the highest quarterly net income ever recorded by the company.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 74.74 to 13,211.88, ending above 13,200 for the first time.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9.63 to 1,495.93, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 26.31 to 2,557.84.

Source: Xinhua