Blue Chips Close Up Sharply

4:09 PM, Oct 21, 2011 --

• NYSE up 119 (+1.6%) to 7,393.49
• DJIA up 267 (+2.3%) to 11,808.79
• S&P 500 up 22 (+1.9%) to 1,238.25
• Nasdaq up 38 (+1.5%) to 2,637.46

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

• Nikkei down 0.04%
• Hang Seng up 0.2%.
• Shanghai Composite down 0.6%.
• FTSE-100 up 1.9%.
• DAX-30 up 3.6%.

UPSIDE MOVERS

(+) HON beats with Q3 EPS, guides above Street view.

(+) MCD beats with Q3 results.

(+) VZ just beats with earnings, meets on revenue.

(+) STX upgraded this morning; shares mixed after late-Thursday results.

(+) SNDK continues evening gain that followed earnings beat.

(+) SLB slips though results top year-ago period.

DOWNSIDE MOVERS

(-) MSFT choppy after reporting largely in line with Q1 results late Thursday.

(-) GE meets with earnings, beats with revenue.

(-) AIXG downgraded.

MARKET DIRECTION

Stocks close up sharply. European debt-talk optimism and McDonald's (MCD) sales results inspired the gains. The DJIA ends the week up 1.4%, stretching its advance to four weeks; The S&P 500 is up 1.1% for the week, a third week of gains. The Nasdaq fell 1.1% for the week, however, for its first down week out of three.

Stocks have been choppy all week as European chatter shared the stage with earnings reports. Stocks fell Thursday amid reports the summit meeting could be postponed due to disagreements between Berlin and Paris over how to leverage the eurozone bailout fund. Equities later recovered after French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed the summit would go ahead on Sunday and would be followed by a second meeting no later than Wednesday.

In earnings news:

--Shares of Schlumberger (SLB) are down after the company reported this morning that Q3 revenue came in at $10.23 bln, up from $6.85 bln in the year ago quarter. Earnings were $0.98, up from $0.70 per share in Q3 last year.

--Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) reported Q3 EPS up 25% to $1.90, topping the Thomson Reuters mean analyst estimate for $1.85. Revenue was up 24% at $591 million. The Street expected $584 million. The company guided for low double digit comparable restaurant sales growth for the full year.

--McDonald's (MCD) reported Q3 revenue of $7.16 bln, better than the analyst consensus of $7.02 bln on Thomson Reuters. EPS was $1.45, vs. expectations of $1.43 per share. The company expects October sales to be up 4% to 5%.

--Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) were higher after the software giant reported Q1 earnings of $0.68 per share on revenue of $17.37 bln, vs. the analyst consensus of $0.68 per share in earnings on revenue of $17.23 bln.

In company news:

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) shares were higher while The New York Times reported the retail giant is cutting health benefits for part-time workers and boosting premiums for much of its full-time staff.

Shares of Allos Therapeutics (ALTH) firmed after the company announced that the its merger agreement with AMAG Pharmaceuticals (AMAG) was called off. AMAG could not get enough votes to support the acquisition, Bloomberg reported.

American International Group (AIG) firmed as Bloomberg reported a U.S. judge denied a request to move $10 billion lawsuit against Bank of America (BAC) to state court. AIG had sued BofA over $10 billion in losses on mortgage bond investments.