Ford good news springs US stocks

US stocks spike on the back of good news by the giant auto maker Ford Company, which announced better-than-expected results for the first quarter. US stock futures turned higher on Friday as the market warmly greeted a USD 1.4 billion loss at Ford Motor Co. and a 32% profit drop at Microsoft (MSFT), with preliminary indications from the banking sector stress test and durable-goods order data still on tap, Reuters reported. “We've driven down expectations so low that earnings across the board have been ahead of estimates,” said James Dunigan, managing executive of investments at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia, which oversees usd 96 billion. “That's providing some catalyst for people to put together a story of where the economy is going to be in couple of months. We have seen the worst.” US stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 70 points, the S&P 500 up 8 points and the Nasdaq Composite up 6 points. Despite dim speculation that the US should brace for tougher days in the year ahead, some perceive recent development as "glimmers of hope" heralded by President Barack Obama. “A lot of the big negative surprises are behind us,” said David Rudow, an analyst with Thrivent Asset Management in Minneapolis. The company oversees about USD 65 billion, including Microsoft shares. “We've seen the worst. It's just a question of when we see return to growth and normal spending again.”