The Federal Reserve's $600 billion stimulus plan lifted the markets to a sharply higher open with the Dow surging 167 points to 11,382. Nasdaq climbed 31 points to 2572.
On the upside
Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI) reported sharply higher fourth quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations prompting the natural and organic food supermarket operator to lift its fiscal 2011 outlook.
Fourth quarter earnings for Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) rose to surpass analyst expectations and the company forecast first quarter results ahead of estimates prompting an upgrade.
Gap (NYSE: GPS) impressed with a 2% increase in October same store sales and forecast third quarter results above analyst expectations.
On the downside
Monolithic Power Systems (Nasdaq: MPWR) reported higher third quarter earnings that topped estimates but the company forecast disappointing fourth quarter results.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) reported an unexpected third quarter profit but the stock price fell on disappointing margins.
The Department of Education will review for-profit educator Apollo Group's (Nasdaq: APOL) federal financial aid program.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks soared 12 points to 727.
