U.S. Stocks Close Up As Earnings Season Kicks Off

U.S. stocks climbed Tuesday, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index hitting their record intraday highs as the Q2 earnings season kicked-off. The reporting began after Monday's market close with aluminum giant Alcoa (AA) releasing its latest results. The company's report was mixed, with Q1 profit rising 59% from last year's comparable period, but sales fell short of expectations.

Other than the Alcoa report, Tuesday's calendar was fairly light. The U.S. Labor Department reported that job openings at U.S. workplaces in February rose to 3.93 million, up from 3.61 million in January, and the highest level since last May, and a year-over-year increase of 11%. February wholesale inventory data weighed in at -0.3% to 501.4 billion, vs. a consensus expectation of +0.5%. Both data points were released after the opening bell, but neither had a noticeable impact on the markets.

In company news, both Skechers (SKX) and Herbalife (HLF) shares saw some movement after KPMG announced that it is resigning as the auditor of the company due to alleged insider trading in the companies securities by one of KPMG's former partners.

Commodities finished mostly higher, gold futures climbed and closed up 0.9% at $1,586.70 an ounce boosted by a weakening greenback which made the dollar dominated commodity more affordable for holders of international currencies. Oil futures added 0.9% to close at $94.20, as concerns over Iranian oil supplies surfaced after a magnitude-6.3 earthquake hit southern Iran, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Here's Where The Markets Stood At Day's End

• Dow Jones Industrial Average up 59.98 (+0.41%) to 14,673.46
• S&P 500 up 5.54 (+0.35%) to 1,568.61
• Nasdaq Composite Index up 15.61 (+0.48%) to 3,237.86

• Nikkei 225 Index flat.
• Hang Seng Index up 0.70%
• Shanghai China Composite Index up 0.65%
• FTSE 100 Index up 0.59%
• DAX down 0.53%
• CAC 40 down 0.02%

• (+) STP, Has received notice from New York Stock Exchange that the company did not meet the NYSE's price criteria for continued listing standard.
• (+) UNIS, Says it has signed a Customization and Commercial Supply Agreement with a U.S. pharmaceutical company for the EZMix dual-chamber syringe that should draw up to $110 million in revenue during the 15-year agreement.
• (+) FSLR, Releases financial guidance for 2013-2015, reports that it set a new world record for cadmium-telluride photovoltaic module conversion efficiency.

• (-) SHLM, Reported late Monday that Q2 EPS was $0.40on sales of $522.4 mln. The analyst consensus on Capital IQ was $0.40 per share in earnings on sales of $515.8 mln. For FY 2013, the company lowered its earnings guidance to a range of $2.08 to $2.13 per share. The Street view is $2.17 per share.
• (-) AFFX, Expects Q1 FY13 revenues of around $78 million, including rev of about $19 million from eBioscience - below the company's expectations. The company attributed this to continued headwinds in its gene expression business across all regions, particularly in Japan, where it came in significantly short of plan. Analysts polled by Capital IQ are expecting Q1 revenues of $83.34 million.
• (-) BSDM, Entered into a securities purchase agreement with two institutional investors to sell 4,065,042 shares of its common stock in a registered direct offering at $1.23 per share.