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Stocks Rise Amid Profit, Economic News
Investors greeted earnings news enthusiastically as they were eager to see how well corporate earnings would hold up. Wall Street anticipates the reports will indicate that corporate growth slowed in the first three months of 2007 compared with previous quarters. Standard & Poor's recent estimate of first-quarter earnings growth for S&P 500 companies is 3.8 percent.
Investor sentiment about earnings can be easily swayed, however, as one bad report has in the past soured Wall Street's mood about the overall corporate profit picture.
  The Citibank logo is shown on a branch office in this April 11, 2007 file photo in New York. First-quarter profit at Citigroup Inc. dropped 11 percent as the nation's largest financial institution took a charge to cover a massive restructuring designed to cut costs and improve earnings. Still, the results announced Monday, April 16, 2007 beat Wall Street expectations. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file) (Mark Lennihan - AP) Partnership
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• Citigroup, the largest U.S. financial institution, said its first-quarter profit fell by 11 percent, but the results included a charge to cover a massive restructuring. Excluding that charge, increased revenue helped push profits above expectations. Citigroup, the best performer in the Dow, rose $1.33, or 2.6 percent, to $52.93. The report buoyed financials stocks, which make up the largest slice of the S&P 500 components. Lehman Brothers Inc. rose $3.67, or 5.1 percent, to $75.89, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advanced $8.02, or 3.9 percent, to $214.52.
Wachovia Corp., the nation's fourth-largest bank, reported a rise in profits that surpassed Wall Street's expectations _ which along with Citigroup's results appeared to reassure some investors that the large U.S. banks are faring better than anticipated, despite trouble in the subprime lending sector. Wachovia rose $1.06 to $55.06.
Eli Lilly & Co.'s first-quarter profit fell 39 percent. After adjusting for certain items, the company's profit came in above expectations. The drug maker also reported a rise in revenue, and raised its full-year sales and earnings guidance. The stock rose $1.52, or 2.7 percent, to $58.40.
Mattel Inc., the world's largest toy company, said its first-quarter profit fell 60 percent, because the year-earlier period benefited from a large settlement; the results beat the average forecast, however. Mattel fell 24 cents to $28.10.
In other corporate news, Fremont General Corp. said it is planning to sell its residential real estate business and about $2.9 billion in subprime residential mortgages at a loss. The moves will effectively shut the company, which rose $1.83, or 25.7 percent, to $8.88.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 2-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 2.83 billion shares compared with 2.57 billion shares traded Friday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 12.06, or 1.47 percent, to 831.44.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed up 1.52 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 closed up 0.83 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 1.75 percent, and France's CAC-40 advanced 1.25 percent.
The sometimes-volatile Shanghai Composite Index, whose nearly 9 percent decline Feb. 27 helped touch off the global pullback, rose 2.22 percent.
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