Nasdaq ends up 2.4%: Stocks climb on earnings, deal news

Stocks gained steadily Monday on a round of corporate takeovers and reports that Europe's bailout fund will be larger than anticipated.

The Nasdaq composite index ended up 2.4% for the day. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.9%, and the S&P 500 gained 1.3%.
Mattel and J.M. Smucker were among companies that rose after announcing acquisitions. The takeovers helped push the Russell 2000 index of small companies up 3% as investors moved money into higher-risk assets and looked for companies that might become takeover targets.

Investors are still waiting for a resolution to Europe's debt problems, wholesale jerseys from chinawhich have helped drag global stocks up and down the last two years. World markets also rose Monday as European leaders worked their way toward a long-awaited plan to fight the continent's debt crisis and China and Japan posted strong economic data.

European leaders said they made progress at a weekend summit, but they likely won't unveil concrete plans to help resolve the crisis until Wednesday. Plans are likely to include measures to recapitalize the region's banks, which are expected to accept steep losses on Greek debt, as well as boosting the eurozone bailout fund.
"Investors are starting to get the sense that European governments are finally starting to get serious and have developed a sense of urgency to fix their problems," said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors.
"The focus is turning back to U.S. fundamentals, which have improved sharply over the last three weeks," Orlando said. He cited improvements in manufacturing, consumer spending and corporate earnings.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi — who received stern words from the cheap nhl jerseys French and German leaders over the weekend — has convened his Cabinet to come up with a package of plausible growth measures by Wednesday, as demanded by EU leaders. Italy is seen as the next likely victim in the debt crisis, but the third largest eurozone economy would be too expensive to bail out.
Confidence-building measures will be sorely needed as European economic indicators continue to point downwards.
A key survey on Monday showed that activity in the eurozone's private sector fell more than expected in October. Momentum in both manufacturing and services continued to weaken, with the so-called purchasing managers' index falling to 47.3 and 47.2 respectively. nba jerseys cheap A figure below 50 denotes contraction.
Economists said it showed that overall economic contraction was possible in the eurozone in the fourth quarter, but traders largely overlooked the report to focus on the likelihood that a European crisis plan would be ready by another leaders' summit on Wednesday.
Britain's FTSE 100 gained 1.08% and Germany's DAX added 1.41%. France's CAC-40 gained 1.55%.
But even with the global economic worries, Caterpillar and other U.S. companies are still reporting bigger profits. "Although there is a good deal of economic and political uncertainty in the world, we are not seeing it much in our business at this point," Caterpillar Chief ExecutiveNFL Jerseys Cheap Doug Oberhelman said.
The maker of construction equipment reported a 44% surge in income, more than Wall Street analysts were expecting, thanks to strong growth in exports. The company said it expected the global economy to continue recovering, albeit slowly.
Caterpillar joins McDonald's and other U.S. companies that have reported stronger third-quarter earnings. Those reports helped the Dow Jones industrial average last week to rise for the third straight week. The Standard & Poor's 500 index finished the week at its highest level since Aug. 3, before Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. credit rating on Aug. 5 and helped trigger big swings in global markets.
Analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 to report total earnings growth of 14% for the third quarter, according to FactSet.
Other big companies expected to report earnings results thischeap nfl jerseys
week include UPS, Ford Motor and Procter & Gamble.
Analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 to report earnings growth of 14% for the third quarter, according to data provider FactSet. They expect a 10% gain in revenue.
Expenses are also expected to climb. Higher costs for raw materials helped drag down income 8% at Kimberly-Clark, which reported results Monday. The stock fell. The company is a major consumer products maker whose brands include Huggies and Kleenex.
Higher costs also hurt cigarette maker Lorillard, which reported a 3% drop in income. Lorillard's stock fell .
A series of corporate deals helped lift the market.
http://sexterity.omgforum.net/t457-nasdaq-ends-up-24-stocks-climb-on-earnings-deal-news
•HealthSpring jumped 33% after Cigna said it will buy the health insurer for about $3.8 billion in cash. Cigna fell 0.4%.
•RightNow Technologies gained after Oracle said it will buy the tech service company for about $1.5 billion. Oracle rose 0.8%.
•Mattel rose after it agreed to buy Hit Entertainment, the owner of the Thomas & Friends and Barney brands, for $680 million in cash.
•The J.M. Smucker Co. gained after it bought most of Sara Lee's North American foodservice coffee operations for about $350 million.
Asian and European markets rose earlier Monday after Japan said its exports grew for a second straight month in September and a report showed China's industrial production returned to growth in October. Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.9%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 4.1% and South Korea's Kospi index rose 3.3%.