Dow up 95 on retail sales, Citigroup results

Updated: 5:50 p.m. ET

Stocks surged today with a solid and broad rally that saw the Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) enjoy their best day in a month.

The rally was built on a decent report on September retail sales, better-than-expected​ quarterly results from Citigroup (C) and, finally, Softbank's (SFTBY) deal to buy 70% of Sprint Nextel (S).

Adding some extra cheer to the market: Gains in health care stocks triggered in part by an Eli Lilly (LLY) report that a new gastric-cancer drug has produced good results and an analyst upgrade. In addition, inflation and trade data from China made investors more optimistic about the world's second-largest economy.

Manufacturing in New York contracted more than economists expected in September, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Empire State Manufacturing Survey.

The Dow closed up 95 points to 13,424; the blue chips had been up as many as 109 points just before the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) gained 12 points to 1,440, and the Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) rose 20 points to 3,064. The Dow's gain was its largest since a 207-point surge on Sept. 13. The gains for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were their best since Sept. 27.

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The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX), which tracks the largest Nasdaq stocks, jumped 20 points to 2,740. Apple (AAPL), the biggest weight in the index, had a volatile day but was up $5.05 to $634.76.

After the close, shares of WD-40 (WDFC) were off $4.79 to $46.55 after hours as the company's fiscal-fourth-quarte​r earnings of 56 cents a share missed the Street estimate of 70 cents. Revenue was down 6% to $89.9 million.  It also cut guidance for its fiscal 2013 year.

Also lower after hours was financial information service Bankrate (RATE), whose shares fell more than 25% after hours to $10.85. The company announced preliminary third-quarter results with revenue expected at $115.5 million to $117.5 million. The consensus estmate was $132.7 million. The company projected earnings of 11 to 13 cents a share. The Street was looking for 20 cents.

Crude oil makes a comeback; gold slips
Crude oil (-CL) in New York recovered from early selling, settling down a penny to $91.85 a barrel. It briefly dropped below $90 a barrel in morning trading and was trading slightly lower in electronic markets.

Brent crude, the benchmark North Sea crude that's a key driver of U.S. retail gasoline prices, was up $1.13 to $115.73 a barrel.

The national average retail price for unleaded gasoline was $3.787 today, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. That's off from Sunday's $3.794 and down 3.1 cents from a near-term high of $3.818.

Gold (-GC) settled down $22.10 to $1,737.60 an ounce. Silver (-SI) was off 92.6 cents to $32.743 an ounce. Gold has shed 2.1% this month; silver is down 5.3%. Gold is still up 10.3% for the year; silver is up 17.3%.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Mon.			Fri.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$91.85			$91.86			-0.37%			-7.06%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$3.2091			$3.2239			1.58%			10.12%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$3.486			$3.6110			5.08%			16.63%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$2.8503			$2.8928			-2.39%			7.26%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$115.80			$114.62			1.03%			7.78%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.7870			$3.7940			0.00%			15.60%
(per gallon; AAA)

Citigroup shares rose $1.91 to $36.66 after posting adjusted earnings that surged from the prior year and beat expectations. The growth came as mortgage lending increased and capital markets results rebounded. The performance was tops among S&P 500 stocks.

The earnings report led to gains for many financial stocks. Goldman Sachs (GS), which reports third-quarter results on Tuesday, was up $4.30 to $124.50. Bank of America (BAC), which reports Wednesday, added 32 cents to $9.44, tops among the 30 Dow stocks.

September retail sales rose 1.1%, the Commerce Department said. That was above the 0.8% growth that had been anticipated. Moreover, the report revised higher its estimates for August retail sales.

One driver to the report was big sales of Apple's iPhone 5, but IHS Global Insight noted that the gains were quite broad and included auto sales, electronics sales (read: iPhone 5) and
gasoline service stations. That wasn't a surprise because retail pump prices were above $3.80 a gallon for nearly all of September.

Sprint is flat on Softbank deal, but Clearwire jumps
Sprint-Nextel was off 4 cents to $5.69 after Japanese mobile operator Softbank said it would buy up to 70% of the company for $20.1 billion. The price was expected.

You saw the excitement in the deal from Clearwire (CLWR), up 37 cents to $2.69. Wall Street is speculating that Clearwire, which builds and operates cellphone towers, will be part of the combination.

Along with that speculation, shares of American Tower (AMT), a Clearwire rival, were up $3.18 to $75.35.

Sprint competitor AT&T (T) lost 42 cents to $35.21 and was the biggest drag on the Dow, while Verizon Communications (VZ) was off 12 cents to $44.50. Telecom was the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500.

• Jim Cramer calls the Sprint-Softbank combine "one wacky deal."

Hasbro (HAS) shares were down $1.55 to $37.75 after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the stock to "sell" from "neutral" due to accelerating industry declines, secular declines in games and puzzles, and slowing growth in boys' toys. The target is moved to $32 from $34.

Microsoft (MSFT) shares were up 31 cents to $29.51. The company unveiled its new Xbox music service that will include a music store, free music streaming on the Xbox and the  ability to download individual tracks or listen to songs without advertising. It will be available Oct. 26 on Windows 8 phones. (Microsoft publishes MSN Money.)

While the obvious competitive rival is Apple, the service also is a competitive threat to Internet music service Pandora (P), whose shares were down 29 cents to $9.11.

Will Amazon.com buy TI's mobile chip business?
If you want audacious in your deal, look no further than the report that Amazon.com (AMZN) is in talks to buy Texas Instruments' (TXN) mobile chip business.

Investors took the idea seriously. TI rose 94 cents to $28.22. Amazon was up $1.82 to $244.18.

The Israeli newspaper Calcalist reported that Amazon.com is in advanced talks to buy TI's smartphone business. A deal would be a clear signal of the company's ambitions in the smartphone sector.

The report said a deal would probably be worth billions of dollars and could make Amazon, led by founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, a direct rival to Apple and Samsung Electronics, which also design their own chips.

A big week for earnings
This is one of the biggest weeks for earnings, with some 84 companies in the S&P 500 releasing results. They include IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC), Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola (KO), Microsoft and General Electric (GE).

Of the 38 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings for the third quarter, 57.9% have reported earnings above analyst expectations, 21.1% reported earnings in line with analyst expectations and 21.1% reported earnings below analyst expectations, according to Thomson Reuters.

Since 1994, 62% of companies beat estimates, 17% match and 21% miss estimates. Over the past four quarters, 67% of companies beat estimates, 10% matched and 24% missed estimates.

• Check MSN Money's earnings calendar.

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Mon.			Fri.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.1000%			0.100%			11.11%			900.00%
5-year Treasury note			0.660%			0.663%			4.76%			-20.48%
10-year Treasury note			1.663%			1.663%			1.59%			-11.12%
30-year Treasury bond			2.843%			2.835%			-6.23%			-1.59%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			79.806			79.740			-0.27%			-0.89%
British pound			1.6080			1.6088			-0.50%			3.49%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.622			£0.622			0.50%			-3.37%
Euro in dollars			$1.30			$1.30			0.83%			0.03%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.772			€ 0.772			-0.82%			-0.03%
U.S. $ in yen			78.80			78.43			1.07%			2.21%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.29			6.27			0.15%			-0.56%
yuan
Canada dollar			$1.021			$1.022			0.45%			4.10%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$0.980			$0.978			-0.37%			-3.94%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,737.60			$1,759.700			-2.05%			10.90%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.7015			$3.703			-1.50%			7.73%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$32.7430			$33.669			-5.30%			17.30%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$8.4825			$8.568			-6.01%			29.95%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$7.3725			$7.528			-2.51%			14.04%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$0.7234			$0.714			2.39%			-21.10%
(per pound)
Coffee			$1.6085			$1.617			-7.29%			-29.96%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$91.85			$91.860			-0.37%			-7.06%
(per barrel)