Stocks Open Higher on Solid Corporate Earnings Reports
On the upside
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) posted $3.59 billion in quarterly profits even as it set aside more loan loss reserves.
Chip giant Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) announced a modest decline in profits that beat expectations while raising its revenue outlook for the final quarter of the year.
Conseco (NYSE: CNO) priced nearly $300 million in convertible senior notes to help shore up the insurer's balance sheet.
On the downside
An analyst downgraded Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO).
RCN tapped Rovi Corporation (Nasdaq: ROVI) to license the company's interactive program guides for digital TV.
Analysts downgraded a number of airline stocks. Shares of Air Tran Holdings (NYSE: AAI) and JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU) fell.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 5 points to 617.
