Higher Close Over Better Than Expected Earnings

Better than expected earnings lifted the markets to a higher close with the Dow climbing 75 points to 11,096. Nasdaq soared 23 points to 2441.

On the upside

Shares of Motricity (Nasdaq: MOTR) continued climbing after announcing yesterday an agreement to distribute its mCore service through Indian wireless carrier Reliance Communications .

A Motley Fool article yesterday suggested that Crown Media (Nasdaq: CRWN) stock has the potential to double.

Shares of LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) rose after Kaufman Bros. analyst Jeffrey Bencik said that solar installations are expected to double in 2010 and climb 20% in 2011.

On the downside

ZAGG (Nasdaq: ZAGG) cited strong demand for its invisibleSHIELD for increasing its 2010 outlook.

Rodman & Renshaw analyst Elemer Piros warned that sales of Acorda Therapeutics' (Nasdaq: ACOR) multiple sclerosis treatment Ampyra may drop due to insurance co-payments.

Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) introduced its FAN5365 programmable Buck regulator which is smaller than previous solutions and more energy efficient but the stock price fell. 

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq.