ECONOMY & MARKETS

U.S. stocks advanced in early trade on Tuesday as upbeat earnings from Adobe Systems, and a couple of M&A deals buoyed sentiment.

Adobe Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: ADBE) is rising in early trading, on the strength of a strong fiscal fourth quarter earnings report the company released yesterday after closing.

Leisure company Carnival Corp. & Plc reported a 29 percent rise in fourth quarter profit, as 4.9 percent capacity increase and higher revenue yields drove revenue growth.

EUR/USD gained ground on Tuesday and moved off an 18-day low it hit on Monday. The pair now has immediate resistance around 1.3285, a Fibonacci retracement level which comes just above 50-day and 100-day SMAs on 4-hour chart. RSI also suggests bullishness for the pair.

California-based start up Kno Inc. announced it has begun shipping its Linux-based touch screen educational tablet for students, letting them read textbooks, take notes and browse the Web.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Arena Pharmaceuticals, Finisar, InterMune, AutoNavi Holdings, SGOCO Group, Atmel, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Art Technology Group, and Oracle.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: LaserCard, Martek Biosciences, Adobe Systems, Incyte, Magic Software Enterprises, AudioCodes, Power-One, Netflix, ZST Digital Networks, and SanDisk.

AUD/JPY added to Monday's gains on Tuesday and is currently trying to retest the 7-month high of 83.66 hit early last week. A break above that level may take the pair to 85.3 before marching towards 88.035, the 1-1/2-year high it hit late April.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the departure of Mark Hurd as the chief Executive officer from Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ:HPQ) as part of its broad inquiry in to various claims, including insider trading by the former executive.

The companies which are expected to see active trade on Tuesday are Nike, Jabil Circuit, Adobe Systems, Red Hat, CarMax, Carnival Corp and Paychex.

China has assured the European Union its rare earths shipments to the bloc will not be disrupted, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in Beijing on Tuesday.

Barclays Capital raised profit estimate of online retailer Amazon.com, Inc., citing strong online holiday season.

Scientists in the UK are developing technology using nanopores that could ultimately sequence a person’s genome in mere minutes, unlike available commercial methods, which require complex process.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Dish Network, Columbia Laboratories, Finisar, VeriSign, ICAgen, Sourcefire, China Shengda Packaging Group, Interactive Brokers Group, Penn National Gaming, and Zions Bancorp.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: LaserCard, Incyte, Adobe Systems, Sonus Networks, Myriad Genetics, YRC Worldwide, SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Perficient, MannKind, and Web.com Group.

Stocks finished essentially flat in listless pre-holiday trading amidst low volume and a dearth of economic data.

The stock market is up slightly as Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) jumped 8.41 percent and financial stocks rose broadly. However enthusiasm was tempered by the downgrade of American Express (NYSE:AXP).

Shares of SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM) are soaring this morning, reaping the benefits of a favorable report in Barron’s over the weekend, citing that the stock looks expensive, given future earnings prospects.

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters Inc (NYSE: AEO) are sinking this morning after Susquehanna Financial Group downgraded the stock’s rating to neutral, citing a sluggish December sales picture.

S&P 500 Index gained 3.00 points, or 0.24 percent, to trade at 1,246.91 at 09:50 a.m. EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 7.11 points, or 0.06 percent, to trade at 11,499.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.20 percent to trade at 2,648.31.

With dwindling market share for Symbian and growing smartphone competition may force Nokia to adopt either Google's Android Operating System or Windows Phone 7 in a bid to regain its lost marketshare in the smartphone space.

Telecom bellwether AT&T announced its acquisition of wireless spectrum from chipmaker Qualcomm for $1.925 billion to strengthen its advanced 4G mobile broadband offering.

Barclays Capital raised profit estimates of Research In Motion Ltd., saying Playbook tablet and QNX phone visibility is improving, and continued international strength appeared sustainable

While analysts are almost unanimous that Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) will fall in the current quarter, some economists see the chance of the country slipping into recession in the first quarter of the next year.

South Korea announced on Sunday it will start charging a levy on banks' foreign exchange borrowings, a measure aimed at limiting the chances of capital exiting the economy at a time when military tensions with the North are escalating.

Foodborne disease, commonly called food poisoning, is any illness resulting from the consumption of contaminated food. Salmonella was the leading cause of foodborne disease in the U.S., according to a study.

The World Economic Forum's annual meeting at Davos is a waste of time, said Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan and a trader who was a speaker at the event in 2009.

Stocks finished narrowly mixed in a quiet session as traders await President Barack Obama signing the tax-cut extension bill into law.

Dell Inc. (NYSE: DELL) pursuit of storage equipment maker Compellent Technologies (NYSE: CML) has featured some unusual characteristics and twists.