Strong earnings from IBM (News - Alert) and other technology companies helped to bring the stock market even higher this past Thursday. This marks the third straight day of gains within the S&P 500 at an almost three month-high. Many technology companies have happily surprised analysts as their revenue numbers are reporting far higher than forecasted.

IBM’s stock jumped four percent after it revealed that its revenues superseded what it had expected. Although many companies are still showing poor revenue from year-to-year, IBM continues to prove its worth in the market. This announcement marks the 38 consecutive quarters that the computer company’s net income rose from the previous year.

Companies such as eBay and Qualcomm (News - Alert) are also expecting to report a strong December quarter helping to thrust the Dow Jones industrial average from 34.66 to 12,943.36 during these three days of gains.

“Europe has been quiet and earnings news, while not earth-shattering, is slightly better than expected,” said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon. “A trading range environment is how we see it.”

Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments in Lisle, Illinois, said it’s really about how people view the economy. “People are focusing on individual stocks after earnings and trying to figure out (through) outlooks how weak the economy really is,” said Cherukuri. “It is baked into stock prices that growth is going to be slow for a little while.”

Although analysts are happy with the stock market gains, many are saying that if their forecasts are true, this year will still be the worst earnings since the summer quarter of 2009. One reason for this is due to the suffering of numerous financial companies.

Just this past week, Morgan Stanley fell over five percent to $13.25 as it failed to show any significant gains in revenue. To add on to the trouble, the company also announced that it plans on cutting at least 1,000 employee positions by the end of the year. American Express (News - Alert) also showed a loss of four percent much lower than Wall Street’s expectations.

Although reports continue to show a slow economy, a jumpy stock market, and troubling signs throughout many industries, one thing is clear – the technology industry is holding its place during this recession. 

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