Why Boeing, Advanced Micro Devices and Cleveland-Cliffs jumped today

The stock market rallied on Wednesday, driven first by important earnings reports and then further gains on positive news from the Federal Reserve. The Prov ended the day up more than 400 points, again crossing the 25,000 level, as investors were pleased with Fed Chair Jay Powell’s discussion on the likely pace of interest rate changes and reducing the size of the central bank’s balance sheet. Many stocks outperformed the broader market’s gains by around 1.5-2%. Boeing (NYSE:BA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD)AND Cleveland Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) were among the best performers. Here’s why they did so well.

Boeing flies higher

Shares of Dow-owned Boeing rose 6% following the aerospace giant’s fourth-quarter earnings report. Boeing reported full-year 2018 sales topped the $100 billion mark and core operating profits up nearly 50%, highlighting the planemaker’s success in meeting demand from commercial and defense customers. CEO Dennis Muilenburg emphasized Boeing’s ongoing mission to drive production and development programs while emphasizing productivity, quality and safety, and optimistic fiscal 2019 outlook helped provide shareholders with the confidence they expected in the new year.

Image source: Boeing.

AMD sees better times ahead

After announcing its fourth quarter financial results, the stock price of Advanced Micro Devices increased by 20%. The chipmaker’s 6% sales growth was slightly smaller than most investors expected, but AMD’s results looked healthier and margin improvements helped boost profits. More importantly, although the company faced the same difficulties that caused its rival NVIDIAcompanies have declined recently, AMD believes it will have no long-term impact on revenue growth throughout 2019. This has been very reassuring to investors, and if it does, it will signal a potential new competitive advantage for AMD over its competitors.

Cleveland-Cliffs fills the iron ore void

Ultimately, Cleveland-Cliffs stock rose 18%. The iron ore producer, like most other industries, received a boost from news from the Brazilian mining giant Valley would reduce iron ore production following the recent disastrous accident. A tailings dam breach in southwestern Brazil resulted in dozens of deaths, and Vale said it would temporarily halt production at all facilities that rely on similar dams. With market disruption potentially expected to last for a long time, investors are hopeful that Cleveland-Cliffs will be asked to fill the gap in the market and temporarily benefit from higher iron ore prices.

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Dan Caplinger owns Boeing stock. The Motley Fool owns and recommends shares of NVDA. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.