Renewed Investor Confidence Boosts Markets

The markets advanced during the midday with the Dow soaring 141 points to 10,889 as strong exports renewed confidence in the economic recovery. Nasdaq surged 41 points to 2416.

On the upside

Exelixis (Nasdaq: EXEL) widened first quarter losses due to a restructuring charge but revenue surged.

KBW analysts said that changes to classification rules for companies headquartered outside of the U. S. will allow XL Capital (NYSE: XL), which is moving its headquarters to Ireland, to remain on the S&P 500.

S&P Equity Research upgraded Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK).

On the downside

NGAS Resources (Nasdaq: NGAS) priced its offering of 3.96 million units at $1.31 per unit.

Ambac Financial (NYSE: ABK) warned of a $750 million loss for the first quarter.

Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) announced a secondary offering of 10 million shares of common stock.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks soared 13 points to 709.