A Big Day for the Dow

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) rose throughout the day to end at its highest level since July, after Goldman Sachs reported earnings above average expectations, easing investors fears over fourth-quarter bank earnings. Thursday could be an even bigger day, with Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and other stalwarts reporting earnings. First, check out today's performance.

Bank of America as well as four other Dow components all report earnings Thursday. The Dow's performance will probably be predicated on these stocks.

For financials, this week Citigroup posted earnings below expectations, while Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo reported above-average earnings. Analysts have varying expectations for Bank of America, as it is much more similar to Citigroup than it is to Goldman Sachs or Wells Fargo. It will certainly be an interesting one to watch. Analyst expectations for American Express are much narrower than for Bank of America. Fool analyst Dan Caplinger recently took a look at American Express and called it "the value play in the card industry."

On the technology side, Motley Fool tech editor Eric Bleeker believes tomorrow could be tech's biggest day of the quarter as blue-chip tech stocks IBM, Intel, and Microsoft all report after the bell, as does Google. These four stocks should provide a good bellwether for the rest of the tech sector.

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