Equities in Broad Advance

4:23 PM, May 3, 2010 --

• NYSE up 68.7 (0.9%) to 7,543.12.
• DJIA up 143 (1.3%) to 11,152.
• S&P 500 up 15 (1.3%) to 1,202.
• Nasdaq up 38 (1.5%) to 2,498.74.

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

• Hang Seng down 1.41%
• Nikkei up 1.21%
• FTSE down 1.15%

UPSIDE MOVERS

(+) CAL confirms stock deal with UAL Corp. (UAUA)

(+) UAUA gains on deal news.

(+) JNJ gets favorable coverage on Barron's cover.

(+) POZN to hold regulatory update for VIMOVO.

(+) PHM gets downgraded, but sector rebounds.

DOWNSIDE MOVERS

(-) BPOP buys assets of Westernbank Puerto Rico.

(-) APC gets upgraded, but BP disaster weighs.

(-) BP downgraded in wake of spill.

(-) FTBK closed by regulators.

(-) AGYS expects sales miss.

(-) STSA selling securities.

(-) MBRK files Ch. 11 bankruptcy.

MARKET DIRECTION

Stocks end up 1% or better, including a more than 140-point surge for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, its best one-day performance since mid-February.

A big merger in the airline sector, a surprise gain in consumer spending, and sales gains by automakers energized market bulls. With the recovery inching forward, investors have been keeping a close watch on new data to make sure the economy is on track.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq set the tone for the day, with help from Apple (AAPL). The company said sales of its iPad since the tablet computer's April launch passed the 1 million milestone faster than expected.

Economic news was supportive. The U.S. manufacturing sector grew in April at its fastest pace in almost six years, according to an industry report, while the government reported an unexpected rise in construction spending in March, marking the first advance since October. Early in the day, another report showed consumer spending rose in March for a sixth straight month.

Indexes gained after Ford Motor Co. (F) scored its fifth straight month of at least 20% gains in domestic sales, adding to evidence that the auto industry and the nation are recovering. Ford said sales rose 24.7% to 167,542 vehicles from 134,401 last year. Sales year-to-date jumped 33%, led by a 38% jump in truck sales. cars and utility vehicles rose 10% respectively. General Motors, Hyundai (HYMTF.PK) and Kia also reported gains.

The merger of United (UAUA) and Continental (CAL) airlines, a deal worth about $3 billion, is fueling optimism that corporations are confident enough about the economy to start spending money and doing deals.

In other deal news, Avis Budget Group (CAR) opened down but briefly made a run into positive territory before yield gains and slumping 2.78%, as it played a cat-and-mouse game with Hertz (HTZ) over Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. (DTG). Avis said in a letter this morning that it believes Hertz's $1.17 billion offer for Dollar Thrifty is too low. It indicated it could offer a higher bid after a peek at Dollar Thrifty's books. Hertz last week offered a cash-and-stock deal that valued Dollar at $41 per share.

There was a mixed reaction to the latest developments for Greece. The European Union and the International Monetary Fund agreed to provide Greece with $145 billion over the next three years to ease its debt problems, but that caused European markets and the euro to fall. Germany is still a holdout on the deal.

In the wake of that news, crude oil for June delivery added $0.04, or 0.05%, to end at $86.19 a barrel. Oil for July delivery rose $0.79, or 0.9% to $89.15 a barrel. In other energy futures, heating oil rose 1.35%, or $0.03, to $2.34 a gallon while natural gas futures were up 2.09%, or $0.08, to $4 per million British thermal units.

Meanwhile, gold for June delivery rose $2.60, or 0.2%, to $1,183.30 an ounce. Silver for July delivery rose $0.20 to settle at $18.84 an ounce. Platinum for July delivery declined $16.20 to $1,728.90 an ounce. Palladium for June delivery lost $7.50 to $548.25 an ounce. Copper for May delivery declined $0.06 cents, or 1.8%, to $3.2785 a pound.