Rising Gas Prices Lifts Consumer Spending, Markets Open Mixed

Consumer spending rose in March as gasoline prices soared. The markets opened mixed with the Dow rising 30 points to 12,793 while Nasdaq slipped 6 points to 2866.

On the upside

Goodyear Tire & Rubber (NYSE: GT) reversed year ago losses to post a better than expected profit for the first quarter.

Total will pay a premium of $23.25 per share to acquire a majority stake in SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWRA).

Second quarter earnings surged for Skyworks Solutions (Nasdaq: SWKS) to top analyst estimates and the company forecast third quarter results ahead of expectations.

On the downside

Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) lowered its current quarter earnings outlook and warned that sales of the BlackBerry smartphone will drop. 

RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE: RAS) disappointed with sharply lower first quarter earnings.

First quarter earnings more than tripled for Crocs (Nasdaq: CROX) to beat analyst expectations as revenue surged but the stock price fell.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE while decliners edged out advancers by 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a fraction to 861.