On The Fly: Top stock stories for Tuesday

Stocks opened sharply higher and proceeded to tack on gains in the early hours of trading. In the process, the Dow, S&P, Nasdaq, and Russell indices hit new all-time highs. Once the averages found a level, they proceeded to move in a very narrow range into the close. Oil prices also moved higher and closed with a gain of about 1%. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., existing home sales grew 2.0% to a 5.48M unit rate in October, beating estimates. COMPANY NEWS: As widely anticipated, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed last night that it is suing to block AT&T (T) and Time Warner's (TWX) merger deal. In response, AT&T's General Counsel said the lawsuit is "a radical and inexplicable departure from decades of antitrust precedent" and the company is "confident that the Court will reject the Government's claims" and permit the merger. Separately, another U.S. regulator made its own proposal that could benefit AT&T, as FCC Chairman Ajit Pai formally proposed to end net neutrality rules put in place by the Obama administration... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Juluca from ViiV Healthcare, a joint venture between GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Pfizer (PFE). According to the FDA, Juluca is the first complete treatment regimen containing only two drugs to treat certain adults with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 instead of three or more drugs included in standard HIV treatment... Meanwhile, Under Armour (UAA) shares slipped over 4% as the Wall Street Journal reported that Peter Ruppe, the company's senior vice president of footwear, is leaving the company as it struggles with slowing sales. A spokeswoman told the Journal that Ruppe will be succeeded by Ryan Drew, who previously served as general manager of the basketball division. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers following their earnings reports were Jacobs Engineering (JEC), which rose 9%. Also higher was OraSure Technologies (OSUR), which jumped 18.5% after the company announced that its subsidiary DNAG Genotek has entered into a $143M agreement for the supply of its Oragene Dx devides to an undisclosed customer. Among the noteworthy losers following their earnings reports were Campbell Soup (CPB), which dropped 8%, DSW (DSW), which fell 13%, and Signet Jewelers (SIG), which plunged 30%. Also lower was Cytokinetics (CYTK), which declined over 25% after the company announced that the Phase 3 tirasemtiv study in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients missed on both primary and secondary endpoints. INDEXES: The Dow rose 160.50, or 0.69%, to 23,590.83, the Nasdaq gained 71.76, or 1.06%, to 6,862.48, and the S&P 500 advanced 16.89, or 0.65%, to 2,599.03.