Upbeat corporate earnings news lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow jumping 191 points to 10,312. Nasdaq leaped 51 points to 2187.
On the upside
General Motors will acquire AmeriCredit (NYSE: ACF) for approximately $3.5 billion in cash.
Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) reported higher third quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates.
Second quarter earnings for Xerox (NYSE: XRX) surged to beat expectations prompting the company to lift its full year outlook.
On the downside
Although Mellanox Technologies (Nasdaq: MLNX) reported higher second quarter earnings that beat expectations, the company forecast third quarter revenue below estimates.
Second quarter earnings rose for Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) but revenue missed expectations prompting a downgrade.
SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) reported higher second quarter earnings but forecast third quarter income below analyst expectations.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 8 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 6 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks surged 17 points to 629.