Stocks opened with solid gains as optimism about the earnings season has emboldened investors to buy equities. Once opened, the market moved higher, with the Dow tacking on gains of almost 1% at its high. The Nasdaq and S&P are also putting together nice gains following last night's blowout report from Alphabet (GOOGL). ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., Markit's flash manufacturing PMI edged up 0.1 tick to 55.5 in July. The firm's services PMI slipped another 0.3 points to 56.2 in the July flash reading. The FHFA home price index rose 0.2% to 263.3 in May. The Richmond Fed manufacturing index dipped to 20 in July after rising 5 points to 21 in June. In Asia, the Japanese manufacturing flash reading for July came in at 51.6, down from 53 in June. In Europe, the flash manufacturing PMI of 55.1 topped the expected reading of 54.7, while the services reading of 54.4 fell a bit short of the 55.1 consensus forecast. COMPANY NEWS: Class A shares of Alphabet are up about 4% near noon after Google's parent company reported significantly better than expected quarterly earnings after adjusting for the $5B fine that the EU just levied. Price targets were raised around Wall Street following the report, with Susquehanna analyst Shyam Patil setting a Street-high target of $1,500, citing "impressive" sites revenue growth acceleration that he sees as evidence that the secular momentum for the ads business remains in place... Shares of Eli Lilly (LLY) are up 2% after the drugmaker reported earnings and announced plans to file a registration statement in the coming weeks with the SEC for a potential initial public offering of a minority ownership stake in Elanco Animal Health as a separate company... Whirlpool (WHR) dropped 13% and the stock was downgraded by Longbow analyst David MacGregor to Neutral after the company reported Q2 earnings that missed the firm's "Street low" estimate, with the analyst calling its quarter "disappointing across most dimensions of the business." Whirlpool, which cut its FY18 ongoing EPS and cash flow guidance, noted that performance in EMEA was below expectations and that it faces a "very challenging cost environment." MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Biogen (BIIB), which rose 4% reporting better than expected quarterly results and raising its guidance for fiscal 2018. Also higher after reporting quarterly results were Veracyte (VCYT) and PGT, Inc. (PGTI), which each gained about 8%. Among the notable losers was FCB Financial (FCB), which dropped 10% after it agreed to be acquired by Synovus (SNV) for $2.9B in stock. Synovus was 9% lower after the deal news and its earnings report. Also lower were Werner (WERN) and JetBlue (JBLU), which each fell roughly 9% after reporting quarterly results. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 218.67, or 0.87%, to 25,262.96, the Nasdaq was up 27.38, or 0.35%, to 7,869.25, and the S&P 500 was up 17.76, or 0.63%, to 2,824.74.
