Strong Earnings Send Markets Soaring

Strong corporate earnings sent the markets soaring to a sharply higher close with the Dow leaping 202 points to 12,587. Nasdaq jumped 61 points to 2826.

On the upside

Bargain hunters lifted shares of WebMD (Nasdaq: WBMD), whose stock price plunged yesterday after the company cut its full year guidance.

Fuelcell Energy (Nasdaq: FCEL) chairman John A. Rolls bought 100,000 shares of company stock while president and chief executive Arthur A. Bottone and chief operating officer Anthony Rauseo each purchased 10,000 shares.

News that China expand its natural resource tax lifted shares of American rare earth oxides company Molycorp (Nasdaq: MCP).

On the downside

Rudolph Technologies (Nasdaq: RTEC) will offer up to $60 million in convertible debt and forecast second quarter revenue below analyst expectations.

RXi Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: RXII) will seek approval from shareholders at its annual meeting to increase the number of common shares under the company incentive plan by 2 million to a total of 8.75 million and to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock by 50 million to 125 million.

Zhongpin (NYSE: HOGS) refuted a China Economic Review report alleging that Zhongpin overstated information but the stock price fell.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 7 to 2 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks jumped 18 points to 834.