Strong earnings boosted the markets to a higher open with the Dow leaping 192 points to 26,268. Nasdaq climbed 41 points to 7443.
On the upside
Shutterfly (Nasdaq: SFLY) will pay approximately $825 million in cash to acquire school picture business Lifetouch.
Fourth quarter earnings and revenue surged for Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings (NYSE: KNX) and the truckload transportation company expects contract rates to rise in 2018.
Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA) reported higher third quarter revenue that beat expectations.
On the downside
Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) fell to a loss for the fourth quarter as revenue dropped and forecast current quarter results below expectations.
LM Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC) widened fourth quarter losses more than expected as revenue fell.
Fourth quarter earnings plunged for Align Technology (Nasdaq: ALGN).
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 gained 10 points to 2,832. Bitcoin plunged $127 to $9,992.
