Earnings News Boosts Markets To Higher Close

&lt;p&gt;Better than expected earnings boosted the markets to a higher close with the Dow soaring 127 points to 7969.  Nasdaq leaped 35 points to 1643.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On the upside&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />

&lt;p&gt;Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) narrowed first quarter losses and announced a $50 fee on international flights to check a second bag.&lt;/p&gt;<br />

&lt;p&gt;Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) will solicit bids in the next few weeks for its Delaware Investments asset management business.&lt;/p&gt;<br />

&lt;p&gt;First quarter earnings for U. S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) tumbled as loan loss provisions surged but the results beat expectations.&lt;/p&gt;<br />

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On the downside&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br />

&lt;p&gt;The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) blamed sharply lower advertising revenue for widening first quarter losses by a wide margin.&lt;/p&gt;<br />

&lt;p&gt;Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE: ARE) will sell $175 million worth of senior convertible notes through a private offering.&lt;/p&gt;<br />

&lt;p&gt;Shares of Flagstar Bancorp (NYSE: FBC) tumbled ahead of its earnings release after market close.&lt;/p&gt;<br />

&lt;p&gt;In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by &amp;nbsp;3&amp;nbsp;to&amp;nbsp;1 on Nasdaq.&amp;nbsp; The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks leaped 17 points to 470. &lt;/p&gt;