Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.49 percent to 16,529.94 while the NASDAQ surged 0.45 percent to 4,092.63. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.41 percent to 1,877.02.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
In trading on Tuesday, energy shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.41 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Stone Energy SGY, up 9 percent, and Westmoreland Coal Co WLB, up 7.8 percent. Industrials services shares gained by just 0.02 percent in Tuesday's trading.
Top losers in the sector included Chart Industries GTLS, Jacobs Engineering Group JEC, and ABB ABB.
Top Headline
Merck & Co MRK reported a 7% rise in its first-quarter profit. Merck's quarterly profit surged to $1.71 billion, or $0.57 per share, compared to a year-ago profit of $1.59 billion, or $0.52 per share. Excluding certain items, Merck earned $0.88 per share, up from $0.85 per share Its revenue dropped 4% to $10.26 billion versus $10.67 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.79 per share on revenue of $10.43 billion. Merck reiterated its full-year earnings forecast of $2.15 to $2.47 per share.
Equities Trading UP
Kulicke and Soffa Industries KLIC shares shot up 8.95 percent to $13.76 after the company reported upbeat Q2 earnings and issued a strong Q3 revenue forecast.
Shares of Orbital Sciences ORB got a boost, shooting up 19.68 percent to $31.80 after the company and Allian Techsystems' ATK Aerospace and Defense Groups agreed to combine to create Orbital ATK.
Banco Santander (Brasil) SA BSBR shares were also up, gaining 15.74 percent to $6.69 on Q1 results. The company reported Q1 recurring net income of 1.427 billion reais ($637 million).
Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Gogo GOGO were 22.52 percent to $14.24 following news that AT&T T intended to launch high-speed 4G in-flight connectivity service.
Chart Industries GTLS shares tumbled 6.10 percent to $69.37 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q1 results and lowered its FY14 outlook.
Coach COH was down, falling 8.19 percent to $46.29 after the company reported downbeat quarterly sales. The company reported Q3 earnings of $0.68 per share on revenue of $1.10 billion.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.89 percent to $101.74, while gold traded up 0.04 percent to $1,299.50. Silver traded down 0.50 percent Tuesday to $19.52, while copper fell 0.71 percent to $3.07.
Eurozone
European shares were higher today.
The Spanish Ibex Index surged 1.31 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index rose 2.15 percent.
Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 1.48 percent and the French CAC 40 rose 0.83 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.91 percent.
Economics
The Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day policy meeting today.
The ICSC-Goldman same-store sales index gained 1.6% in the week ended April 26 versus the prior week.
The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index dropped 0.3% in the first three weeks of April versus March.
The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.76% in February, versus economists' expectations for a 0.80% gain. On a year-over-year basis, the index climbed 12.9% in February.
The Conference Board's consumer confidence index came in at 82.30 in April, versus a revised 83.90 in March. However, economists were expecting a reading of 83.00.
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