S&P

Dow and S&P continue to be fueled by General Electric, Exxon Mobil; but Nasdaq slips

The companies that reported earnings before the markets open on Friday are: General Electric, Bank of America, Schlumberger, BB&T, Air Products and SunTrust Banks.

Gold rebounded slightly on Monday from a one-percent fall in the previous session, after China further tightened its monetary policy to curb inflation, and holdings in the gold-backed exchange-traded fund continued falling.

Stocks rose modestly, boosted by strong corporate earnings from J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), allowing the S&P 500 index to score its seventh consecutive week of gains.

US futures are set to open lower on Friday after a disappointing jobless claims data, which could weigh on sentiment.

Indian Oil Corp has so far been unaffected by an oil payments row with Iran but could turn to the spot market if there is any disruption to imports, the company's chairman said on Thursday.

(The following was released by the rating agency)Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had assigned its 'AA-' issue rating to the proposed issue of U.S. dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes by CNOOC Finance (2011) Ltd. CNOOC Ltd. (AA-/Stable/--) irrevocably and unconditionally guarantees the notes.

The S&P 500 Index gained 3.69 points, or 0.29 percent, to trade at 1,278.17 at 9.30 a.m. EDT. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.93 points, or 0.28 percent, to trade at 11,704.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 11.50 points, or 0.42 percent, to 2,728.49.

Bank shares are weakening after the Massachusetts State Supreme Judicial Court upheld a decision that two foreclosures from U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) were not valid because the banks did not properly show they held the mortgages at the time of the foreclosure.

Shares of grocery retailer SuperValu (NYSE: SVU) have plunged almost 25 percent since mid-October amidst an increasingly difficult environment for food retailers.

S&P Equity Research predicts slower, but healthier growth in the technology sector in 2011, including notable developments regarding new products, international activity, and M&A deals.

Some economists are warning that housing prices in general could double-dip and the price declines may accelerate in 2011.

Binky Chadha, chief U.S. equity strategist of Deutsche Bank, thinks the S&P 500 will return 23 percent in 2011.

Top Ten Predictions for U.S. Economy/Markets in 2011. These predictions come from Michael Yoshikami, president and chief investment strategist of YCMNET Advisors Inc. in Walnut Creek, Cal.

Here are the ten worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 index for 2010.

Here are the ten best-performing stocks of the S&P 500 for 2010.

Home prices in 20 metropolitan cities in the US continued to fall in October with prices in six cities reaching new lows.

This is the best time in decades to buy U.S. stocks, according to Elaine Garzarelli, the analyst who became famous by correctly predicting the stock market crash of October 1987.

Regional bank stocks are getting a big lift today from the agreement by Hancock Holding Co.’s (Nasdaq: HBHC) to acquire another Gulf Coast bank, Whitney Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: WTNY) in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at almost $1.5 billion.

U.S. companies are paying dividends at a healthy pace again, but they are unlikely to see the halcyon days from before the financial crisis.

Stock buybacks among companies in the S&P 500 surged by 128.3 percent in the third quarter from the year-ago period, according to data from Standard & Poor's.