Stock Market Today Is Higher As Another Round Of Strong Earnings Reports Encouraged Investors

Stocks opened higher on the heels of positive earnings reports from some of the country's largest corporations, positive confidence data out of Germany, and solid retail sales data from the U.K.

by Press Office

(SEOSamba and WireNews+Co) - London, England - 22 May 2012

The market tacked on gains in the opening 30 minutes and found a level where the averages sat while investors digested the corporate earnings and accompanying conference calls. In the second hour of trading the averages gained some upside momentum and added to their opening gains but they have since moved in a very narrow range. There may be little in the way of news flow for the remainder of the session as the week end approaches...

ECONOMIC EVENTS: Domestically, little of note was on the economic calendar. In Europe, Spanish 10-year bond yields rose above 6% and equivalent Italian and French yields rose as well. In contrast, a measure of German business confidence climbed to 109.9, marking its sixth consecutive month of increase...

COMPANY NEWS: Earnings reports from a trio of Dow components helped power that average higher, as Microsoft (MSFT) led all of the blue chips with a 5.4% gain after its earnings and revenue beat consensus. General Electric (GE) also beat on both the top and bottom line and shares moved higher by 1.9%. Results from McDonald's (MCD) were generally in line with expectations. The company said global comparable sales increased 7.3%, driven by an 8.9% increase in the U.S. and its stock rose 2% near noon... Among other companies reporting earnings, advancers included Hanesbrands (HBI), Schlumberger (SLB) and Honeywell (HON); decliners included SanDisk (SNDK) and Altera (ALTR)...

MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers were Ixia (XXIA), up over 13%, following an upgrade at Wunderlich citing the company's Q1 results, and Great Wolf (WOLF), up 8%, after an affiliate of Apollo Global Management (APO) increased its offer to acquire the company to $7.85 per share from $7.00. Noteworthy losers included Riverbed (RVBD), down more than 26%, following downgrades by at least seven firms after the company's Q1 revenue missed consensus and it said it sees 15% revenue growth for FY12, and Tempur-Pedic (TPX), down over 21%, after its guidance fell short of expectations...

INDICES: Near noon, the Dow was up 112.84, or 0.87%, to 13,076.94; the Nasdaq was up 20.84, or 0.69%, to 3,028.40; and the S&P 500 was up 9.60, or 0.70%, to 1,386.52. (MSFT, GE, MCD, HBI, SLB, HON, SNDK, ALTR, XXIA, WOLF, APO, RVBD, TPX) 

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