Rising home sales and upbeat earnings lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow surging 189 points to 12,455. Nasdaq leaped 57 points to 2802.
On the upside
Global power company AES (NYSE: AES) will pay approximately $3.5 billion in cash to acquire regional power company DPL (NYSE: DPL).
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) reported higher first quarter earnings that surpassed analyst expectations and the chip maker forecast second quarter results ahead of estimates.
First quarter earnings for Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX) surged to beat expectations as revenue climbed.
On the downside
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) reported higher first quarter earnings but new mortgage loans tumbled.
Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) disappointed with sharply lower third quarter earnings that fell short of analyst expectations and forecast current quarter results below estimates prompting downgrades.
Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) blamed higher costs for lower first quarter earnings and forecast second quarter results below estimates.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 6 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks soared 11 points to 834.
