Markets Modestly Higher As Geithner Testifies

The markets pared its early morning gains but continued to trade modestly higher with the Dow rising 69 points to 8018 as Treasury secretary nominee Timothy Geithner testified before the Senate Finance Committee. Nasdaq climbed 17 points to 1458.

On the upside

Although fourth quarter earnings for LM Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC) fell, revenue rose and the telecommunications equipment maker announced the elimination of another 5,000 jobs.

Riverbed Technology (Nasdaq: RVBD) will collaborate with Singapore Telecommunications to incorporate Riverbed's WAN optimization solutions into the SingTel Traffic Optimization and Profiling Service Application Accelerator.

Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) reported higher second quarter earnings that surpassed analyst estimates and forecast higher third quarter revenue.
On the downside

Hancock Holding Company (Nasdaq: HBHC) reported lower fourth quarter as well as full year earnings due to the credit crises and sluggish economy.

Fourth quarter earnings plunged to fall short of estimates for U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) as loan loss provisions surged.

American Airlines parent AMR (NYSE: AMR) widened fourth quarter losses due to greater fuel expenses.


In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 4 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 3 points to 436.