Stocks See Solid Buying, Dow Jumps Over 200 Points

Stocks started higher today and didn't look back, despite weaker-than-expected earnings from electronics retailer Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), as bargain hunters picked through the wreckage from the recent correction.

The Dow closed up 214 points, or 2.1%, to 10,405, the Nasdaq rose 62 points to 2,306 and the S&P 500 rose 26 points to 1,115.

Investors reacted positively to some stability in Europe, with the Euro bouncing from multi-year lows against the dollar. Today the Euro rose 1% to $1.2338 versus the greenback.

On the earnings front, Best Buy reported first-quarter earnings of 36 cents per share on revenues of $10.79 billion. Analysts had been looking for much more robust earnings of 50 cents per share and slightly higher sales of $10.94 billion from Best Buy in the first quarter. Shares of Best Buy fell 6% today.

Tomorrow another important corporate economic barometer, FedEx (NYSE: FDX), will report earnings results.

Investors were also pleased with the successful IPO of leading options exchange CBOE Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBOE). Shares closed at $32.49 per share after pricing 11,700,000 shares at $29 per share, the top end of the expected $27 - $29 range.

Lower credit card charge offs and delinquencies was another positive sign for a recovery.

Energy names saw a boost today, despite the grilling of big oil executives on Capitol Hill. BP (NYSE: BP), rose 2.4%, although it is down nearly 50% since the spill started. Sector ETFs, Oil Services HOLDRs (NYSE: OIH) and Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLE) rose 5% and 3% respectability today.

Tonight President Obama will address the American people about the developments related to the Gulf oil spill.

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