A gain in September retail sales lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow climbing 87 points to 11,566. Nasdaq soared 25 points to 2645.
On the upside
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) impressed with sharply higher third quarter earnings that surpassed analyst expectations as revenue surged.
Shares of Sprint (NYSE: S) rose as sales of the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone 4S began and are expected to hit a record 3 million in sales over the weekend.
Cemex (NYSE: CX) updated investors on the development of affordable housing projects in Southern Mexico and Central America.
On the downside
Depomed (Nasdaq: DEPO) reported disappointing results from a late stage clinical trial of its menopausal hot flash treatment Serada.
National CineMedia (Nasdaq: NCMI) blamed a drop in advertising revenue for lowering its full year outlook.
Investors locked in profits on Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VRTX) whose shares rose yesterday over the prospect of higher Incivek sales.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 6 points to 704.
