9:45AM Market opened higher on economic data and strong earnings.
U.S. stocks extended gains Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained for a fourth day in a row, helped by strong results from Exxon Mobil and upbeat economic data. The Commerce Department reported capital spending continued to rise as durable goods orders jumped to a six-year high of 7.8%. Exxon Mobil (XOM: chart) rose 1.5% after the oil giant posted better-than-expected quarterly results, buoyed by higher crude-oil and natural-gas realizations and improved marketing. Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell reported a 34% drop in Q3 profit, as rising costs, higher taxes and reduced output from Nigeria weighed, but its result still beat analysts' expectations. Navteq (NVT: chart) climbed 14% after reporting Q3 profit drop of 73% compared with a year-ago quarter bolstered by a tax gain. Quarterly earnings fell to $27.1 million, or 28 cents per share, from $101.1 million, or $1.07 per share last year.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (HOT: chart) reported Q3 quadrupled to 71 cents a share from 17 cents last year, despite 2.3% lower revenue, beating estimates of 50 cents a share. Starwood expects to earn 73 cents a share in Q4. The stock slipped 3%. In other news, shares of Red Hat (RHAT: chart) plunged 23% after Oracle Corp. (ORCL: chart) said it would offer full technological support for Red Hat's Linux operating system at a much lower price than Red Hat charges for its services. In early trading, the Dow rose 23.77, or 0.20%, to 12,158.45. The Dow reached a new trading high Thursday, 12,165.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.06, or 0.29%, to 1,386.28, and the Nasdaq composite index added 8.61, or 0.37%, to 2,365.20.


9:30AM The FTSE 100 erases earlier gains Thursday as pharma stocks decline.
The FTSE 100 in London is almost flat in the afternoon, at 6,217, or 0.03% higher.

Decliners

AstraZeneca tumbled on news it has stopped the development of its experimental stroke drug NXY-059 as it failed to reduce significant disability in patients. The shares lost 7.48%.

GlaxoSmithKline also slipped despite raising earnings guidance for the year to mid-teens EPS growth from 12% previously, hiked its dividend and increased its share buyback programme. The company shed 3.57%.

British American Tobacco also fell despite lifting nine month earnings by 13%, adding it is on track for a good year. Underlying profits rose 8% on revenues up 5%. The company stock declined 1.47%.

Cadbury Schweppes melted away as it said UK confectionery has been weaker than expected. Its shares moved back 1.10%. Medical product sterilisation firm Isotron has rejected an offer from Synergy Healthcare, saying it had no hesitation in doing so. Synergy Healthcare lost 5.04%. Discount retailer Instore has warned profits for the full year will be below expectations due to hefty stock clearance and restructuring measures. Its shares fell 10.17%.

Advancers

Third quarter results from Royal Dutch Shell were well received though as the oil titan reported a better than expected 33% increase in third quarter earnings per share before asset disposals. The company rose 3.91%.

Isotron has surged 7.17% after it rejected a bid offer. BP and BG rose, 0.57% and 0.08%, respectively. Vodafone meanwhile continues to rally from its recent lows. Vedanta Resources has gained 3.07%.

Other news

Independent News & Media, the media company, has launched a bid for APN News & Media, the Australian media group, valuing it at about 1.1billion pounds.


9:00AM Stock futures advanced on Exxon Mobil earnings and steady rates.
U.S. stock futures indicated a higher opening, with further gains expected on the back of stronger-than-expected earnings and steady interest rates. A bigger-than-expected jump in durable goods orders and higher weekly jobless claims had little effect on futures. U.S. durable goods orders soared 7.8% in September, as orders for new aircraft nearly tripled. This was the biggest jump in six years, above estimates of 2.8% increase. In another report, the Labor Department said that the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits rose by 8,000 to 308,000 last week.

Exxon Mobil (XOM: chart) advanced 1.6% in pre-market trading after posting better-than-expected Q3 results. The oil giant reported Q3 earnings rise of $10.49 billion, or $1.77 per share, up from a year-ago profit of $9.92 billion, or $1.58 per share, exceeding expectations of $1.59. Revenue slipped to $99.59 billion from $100.72 billion a year earlier. Exxon attributed the higher earnings to the impact of its continuing share purchase program, higher crude oil and natural gas realizations, and improved marketing.

In other earnings news, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY: chart) said Q3 profit tumbled to 17 cents a share from 49 cents a year ago, hurt by generic competition to Plavix. Analysts had expected it to earn 20 cents a share on revenue of $4.2 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb raised its 2006 earnings per share target to between $1.02 and $1.07 a share from no less than 95 cents a share on a non-GAAP basis. Comcast Corp. (CMCSA: chart), cable television provider, reported Q3 earnings increase of 58 cents a share, up from 10 cents a share on 22% revenue jump, beating estimates of 19 cents a share. Symantec (SYMC: chart) slipped 5.7% in the pre-open after the computer security software maker didn''t meet analyst estimates with its quarterly results. In corporate news, Red Hat (RHAT: chart) tumbled 17% after Oracle Systems (ORCL: chart) said it would begin offering support for Red Hat''s Linux operating system. S&P 500 futures rose 3.20 points at 1,392.40 and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 3.50 points at 1,744. Dow industrial futures climbed 14 points to 12,203.

Initial jobless claims advanced 8,000.
The Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended October 21 on Thursday, showing that jobless claims increased in line with economist estimates. The report showed that jobless claims rose to 308,000 from the previous week''s revised figure of 300,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 308,000 compared to the 299,000 originally reported for the previous week. At the same time, the less volatile 4-week moving average fell to 305,250 from the previous week''s revised average of 308,000. The report also showed that continuing claims in the week ended October 14 rose to 2.449 million from the preceding week''s revised level of 2.446 million.

Durable goods orders soared on strong aircraft orders.
Thursday morning, the Department of Commerce released its report on durable goods orders in the month of September, showing that orders increased by much more than economists had been expecting due largely to an increase in transportation equipment orders. The report showed that durable goods orders rose 7.8 percent in September after a revised 0.1 percent decrease in August. Economists had been expecting orders to increase by 2.3 percent compared to the unchanged reading previously reported for the previous month. The increase in durable goods orders was largely due to a significant increase in orders for transportation equipment, which surged up 27.6 percent in September following a 3.6 percent increase in August.