Too Optimistic ...

The Dow may have surged too fast following its more than 2,000-point jump since August even as analysts forecast a third straight year of profit growth for the S&P 500, said James Investment Research Inc.’s Tom Mangan and BB&T Wealth Management’s Walter “Bucky” Hellwig. Mangan and BGC Partners LP’s Michael Purves see signs investors are too optimistic about the next few months.

Shares of Ford Motor Co. plunged 13 percent as the automaker said profit slid 79 percent. Amazon.com Inc. declined 7.2 percent after saying earnings may miss analysts’ projections. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which measures the cost of insurance against losses in U.S. stocks, jumped 24 percent, the most since May.

The NYSE Arca Airline Index lost 4.3 percent after oil jumped. Any disruption to Middle East oil supplies “could actually bring real harm,” U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on a conference call.

The Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas, is located in Egypt. One million to 1.6 million barrels a day of oil and refined products moved north to Europe and other developed economies in 2008 and 2009, according to the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Energy Department.