U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

It was the day of Google.

Market was on the move at the opening and climbed higher by mid-day. The robustness of Google’s earnings surprised even the ardent fans of the company driving the stock to all-time new high followed with several upgrades from analysts. Google (GOOG: chart) closed up $36.70 or 12% at the close. And there were two other notable stock moves in the market.

Shares of SanDisk (SNDK: chart) rose 22% or $10.07 on a strong earnings performance. The trading volume on the stock was 31 million shares vs. daily average of 8.2 million shares.

Recently listed shares of holding company of Chicago Board of Options and Trade (BOT: chart) were up on the third day in a row to a new high of $112, up $21.11 or 23.2% from yesterday’s close. The shares have been more than 100% from the IPO price of $54 and opening price of $80.50 three days ago.

Market faced parade of earnings during the day as AT&T (T: chart), Alltel (AT: chart), Xerox (XRX: chart), Robert Half (RHI: chart), and RadioShack (RSH: chart), Wyeth, (WYE: chart) and Schlumberger (SLH: chart) reported earnings.

Cemex (CX: chart) reported earnings soar of 87% on account of RMC acquisition. Earnings of $675 million was driven sales growth of 110% including results from RMC.

On heavy volume of 2.4 billion shares on New York Stock Exchange Order System and 1.773 billion shares on Nasdaq System 3,391 shares on NYSE and 3,137 shares on Nasdaq were exchanged.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Google Inc. (GOOG: chart) reported third-quarter profit that rose sevenfold and nearly double revenue to go beyond $1 billion for the first time in the company's history. At least nine financial brokers raised their price targets on Google, including Lehman Bros., First Albany and RBC Capital Markets. The company’s stock jumped 12.5%.

Dow component Caterpillar Inc. (CAT: chart) posted a third-quarter profit that was slightly up from analyst expectations. The company reported net income of $667 million, or 94 cents a share, up from $498 million, or 70 cents, for the same period a year ago. Revenue increased 17%, reaching $8.98 billion from $7.66 billion in 2004. The company’s stock fell by 9.1%.

SanDisk Corp. (SNDK: chart) reported a third-quarter profit that rose nearly twofold on strong sales of its flash memory products. The company earned $107.5 million, or 55 cents a share, compared to $54.1 million, or 29 cents a share a year ago. Revenue surged to $589.6 million from $408 million. The company’s stock gained 19.1%.

Photocopy specialist Xerox Corp (XRX: chart) commenced a $500 million share buyback program as the company reported third-quarter results that went alongside expectations. The stock added 5.8%.

INTERNATIONAL MARKET NEWS

Asian-Pacific benchmarks finished mixed, reflecting heavy losses, posted on Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei traded lower in the morning, dragged by Toyota Motor and steel stocks, but later Toshiba helped the index rebound to the positive 0.1%. Across the region, South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.5%, while Australia’s All Ordinaries lost 0.5%.

European markets extended mid-day losses and closed lower, pressured by weak U.S. stocks, slightly disappointing earnings news from the Swedish Ericsson and corporate news from U.K. caterer Compass. The German DAX 30 lost 0.5%, The French CAC 40 declined 0.6%, and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4%.

ENERGY, METALS, CURRENCIES

Crude oil dipped below $60 a barrel before recovering to $60.63 up 61 cents and natural gas dropped 10 cents to a month-low to $12.87. The decline is attributable to a huge increase in natural gas and gasoline inventory stocks, lower fuel demand and eased worries over hurricane Wilma. Gasoline traded slightly down at $1.6075 a gallon, while heating oil was unchanged to $1.89. Natural gas slipped 17 cents to $12.82 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In European trading gold prices declined. In London gold closed at $464.80 per troy ounce, down from $465, while in Zurich it fell to $461.25, down from $461.50. In Hong Kong the precious metal lost $1.20 to close at $462.75. Silver finished unchanged at $7.58.

In European trading the U.S. dollar traded mixed against other major currencies. The euro was quoted at $1.2013, up from $1.1983. The dollar changed hands at 115.67 yen, up from 115.53. The British pound was trading at $1.7742, up from $1.7706.

EARNINGS NEWS