European finance leaders finished an apparently successful summit and that has American investors cheering. Add these two items to the good news category: the Standard & Poor's 500 index is on track to post its best month since January 1987 and U.S. consumer spending picked up in the third quarter.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 2.92 percent, or 346.70, to 12,215.74; the Nasdaq was up 3.32 percent, or 87.96 points, to 2,738.63; and the Standard & Poor's 500 was up 3.43 percent, or 42.57 points, to 1,284.57; the NYSE composite was up 3.90 percent, or 292.53 points, to 7,798.68; and the AMEX composite was up 1.63 percent, or 37.20 points, to 2,312.91.
Hot Stocks
Financial stocks were some of the best-performing today. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) was up 9.47 percent, or $2.95, to $34.11.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) reported a whopping 41 percent increase in quarter-to-quarter revenue and beat Q3 EPS estimates, but was up only 0.94 percent, or $0.78, to $81.87.
Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) missed Q3 EPS and revenue projections. The nation's second-largest cable provider was down 7.86 percent, or $5.56, to $65.08.
Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:MMI) was up 0.31 percent, or $0.12, to $39.02 ahead of an after-hours quarterly earnings release. Shares were trading down slightly after hours after investors found MMI missed expectations.
Las Vegas Sands Inc. (NYSE:LVS) was up 4.44 percent, or $1.93, to $45.40. The company was up in after-hours trading after beating quarterly revenue estimates.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD) was up 8.73 percent, or $0.4450, to $5.54. It was trading even after-hours on news it beat quarterly revenue and EPS estimates.
Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq:ERTS) was up 0.45 percent, or $0.11, to $24.50. In after-hours trading, the company is down 2.5 percent despite beating quarterly estimates.
Commodities and Currencies
Oil was up 4.04 percent, or $3.64, to $93! .84 per barrel. Gold was up 0.74 percent, or $12.80, to $1,735.50 per ounce.
The euro gained 0.0296 against the U.S. dollar to 1.4189.
The dollar lost 0.3005 against the Japanese yen to 75.9400. The British pound gained 0.0141 against the dollar to 1.6102.
International Markets
International markets, particularly in Europe, were upbeat today. France's CAC 40 led the parade, up 6.26 percent, or 199.00 points, to 3,368.62. Germany's DAX was up 5.35 percent, or 321.77 points, to 6,337.84; and Britain's FTSE was up 2.89 percent, or 160.59 points, to 5,713.82.
Japan's Nikkei was up 2.04 percent, or 178.07 points, to 8,926.54; and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 3.26 percent, or 622.16 points, to 19,688.70; Singapore's Straits Times was up 2.80 percent, or 77.63 points, to 2,847.57; and China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.34 percent, or 8.13 points, to 2,435.61.
Industry Watch
The toy and hobby store industry was the day's best performer, up 14.24 percent. That was all due to Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc.'s (NYSE:BBW) strong quarterly results. Shares ended up 14.24 percent, or $0.83, to $6.66.
The healthcare information systems industry was the day's worst performer, down 3.78 percent. Quality Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:QSII) was down 3.53 percent, or $1.53, to $41.82. The company completed a two-for-one stock split today and reported strong quarterly numbers.
Best and Worst
China Yida Holdings Co. (Nasdaq:CNYD) was the day's biggest percentage gainer, up 34.13 percent, or $0.71, to $2.79.
Orrstown Financial Services Inc. (Nasdaq:ORRF) was the day's biggest percentage decliner, down 29.62 percent, or $3.91,to $9.29 on a swing from profit to loss from last year's Q3 to this year's.
