Market Wrap: Fed Cautions on Fuel Prices; Apple Sued, Tuition to (Inevitably) Rise; Nokia Loses Ringtone

Market wrap-up for April 11th

End of the Day: Dow Jones up 89.5 to 12,805.39; Nasdaq up 25.2 to 3,016.46; S&P 500 up 10.1 to 1,368.71

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• This is beginning to sound like an REM song: The Fed said that the U.S. economy expanded at the modest-to-moderate pace for the period stretching from mid-February through March, though it cautioned that rising petroleum prices are crimping into consumers spending power and increasing transportation costs.
  
  Positive indicators include manufacturing expansion, modest improvement in the residential-real-estate sector, and better demand for professional services. Economic activity expanded across all 12 districts.
  
  For much more color from the release< click here.
  
  
• The U.S. points its magic "litigation wand" right at publishers, Apple: The U.S. Department of Justice filed a suit against Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and settled with several publishers over possible price-fixing in the electronic book market. Publishers entering the settlement are not allowed to enter into a pricing pact on e-Books for two years following the deal. The move will now allow Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and other e-Book retailers to set the price of their own offerings. The model being alleged against Apple was that of an "agency" model, in which publishers set the price of books and retailers simply take a cut.
  
  Some publishers refused the settlement, saying it would allow Amazon to take a dominant pricing position in the market.
  
  
• Nokia's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day: Nokia (NYSE: NOK) shares took a hit Wednesday after providing preliminary information on certain aspects of its first-quarter 2012 financial performance, including a lowered first-quarter 2012 outlook for Devices & Services. During the first quarter 2012, multiple factors negatively affected Nokia’s Devices & Services business to a greater extent than previously expected. These factors included:
  • Competitive industry dynamics, which negatively affected net sales in the Mobile Phones and Smart Devices business units, particularly in India, the Middle East and Africa and China; and
    
  • Gross margin declines, particularly in the Smart Devices business unit.
  Nokia said it estimates its non-IFRS Devices & Services operating margin in the first quarter 2012 was approximately negative 3 percent, compared to the previously expected range of “around breakeven, ranging either above or below by approximately 2 percentage points.
  
  Nokia ended about 15.7 percent lower.
  
  
• Can someone invent a way to make fireworks from nat gas, in time for the holidays?: Natural gas prices settled below $2 for the first time since January 2002 -- over 10 years ago. Front month contracts ended 4.7 cents lower on the session to $1.94 per mmBtu. Many have anticipated the decline, with a mild winter pushing stockpiles to multi-year record highs.
  
  Some even see nat gas traveling to the $1.50 price range, given market data.
  
  Data out Thursday should show nat gas stockpiles increasing 25.5 billion cubic feet last week, moving inventory to a record 2.505 trillion cubic feet.
  
  
• In like a lamb...out like a lion?: U.S. stocks trimmed a 5-session slide today as markets welcomed stronger Alcoa (NYSE: AA) earnings and rumors China may soon undertake further easing plans. By comparison, the S&P 500 started March off right, then slid for the next three sessions before making a rebound.

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