Stocks surge spawns hope

NEW YORK -- Powered by a batch of surprisingly good earnings reports, stocks barreled higher Tuesday, lifting the Dow Jones industrials more than 290 points and back above 8,000.\nThe Dow, which soared as much as 327 points, owed some of its lift to upbeat earnings from three of its components -- Citigroup, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson.\nAll three of the market's major indexes were heading for a four-session winning streak. That's a feat the Dow and Standard & Poor's 500 index last accomplished 10 weeks ago in the period ending Aug. 9. The Nasdaq hasn't had a four-day rally in three months, or since May 17.\nAnalysts said investors were feeling enthusiastic about the earnings reports, having been shaken up in the past few weeks as companies lowered their profit outlooks.\n"We are either manically depressed about (stock) prices or irrationally exuberant. That is what we have today, swinging the other way," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co.\nIn midafternoon trading, the Dow was up 297.62, or 3.8 percent, at 8,175.02, building on a three-day gain of 591.13. The Dow last closed above 8,000 on September 18 when it stood at 8,172.45.