Over the last few weeks the bulls on the stock market have been looking for a catalyst to drive the stock market higher. The hope was that earnings reports might be able to do just that, but in recent days the hopes had pretty much turned to fear that the news might be bad. As it turns out, Intel absolutely knocked the cover off the ball when it reported its second quarter earnings after the bell earlier today.

How good was this Intel quarter? The consensus estimate was for 43 cents per share, and the company raked in a hefty 51 cents per share. Maybe the most impressive number of all was Intel’s gross margin, which sat at 67% in the second quarter. In their conference call Intel said that demand was higher than expected in all areas of the world, including Europe. The company raised expectations for the current quarter and the year. Intel is now expecting its sales to set a new record this quarter of somewhere between $11.2 billion dollars and $12 billion dollars. The quarter was so good that the company CEO actually called it “the best quarter in the company’s 42 year history.”

Is Intel hitting a home run on the earnings front going to be a catalyst for the stock market going forward? In the short-term it is likely to give investors reason for optimism about the rest of the earnings season. The big question now will be whether other major technology companies like Microsoft, Dell, and Cisco are seeing the same types of good times. The fact that demand is so strong for Intel, especially on the business side, makes me wonder if the corporate world is starting to feel a little more comfortable about the economy. At the same time, it is completely plausible that technology could be in a period of outperformance and the rest of the market is still in the doldrums.

For now, Intel’s earnings report is only a start, but it sure is a great way to start the earnings season! Keep a close eye on earnings reports in the next couple weeks, because they will certainly move the markets in a big way!