Stocks Get Lift From Yuan Talk

J.C. Penney (JCP Quote) said that first-quarter profit rose fourfold to $172 million, or 63 cents a share, beating analysts' estimates by 2 cents a share. Shares gained $1.52, or 3.2%, to $49.35.

Department-store operator Saks (SKS Quote) posted first-quarter net income of $17.1 million, or 12 cents a share. Saks did not provide year-ago results because it is in the process of restating them. The Thomson First Call consensus was for earnings of 16 cents a share. Shares fell 34 cents, or 2%, to $16.60.

Retailer Target (TGT Quote) said late Monday that May same-store sales are currently in line with previous forecasts of a 3% to 5% increase. Target expects to report May same-store sales on June 2. Shares were up 84 cents, or 1.7%, to close at $50.34.

Deere (DE Quote) rose 4.2% after the company said it earned $604 million, or $2.43 a share, in its fiscal second quarter, up from $477.3 million, or $1.88, a year ago. Revenue rose 13% to $6.62 billion. Shares gained $2.50 to $62.29.

Agilent (A Quote) said second-quarter earnings slid 11% from a year ago to $95 million, or 19 cents a share. Adjusted earnings of 20 cents a share were a penny short of estimates. The company also lowered third-quarter guidance. Agilent was recently higher by 92 cents, or 4.3%, to finish at $22.48.

Onyx(ONXX Quote), which along with partner Bayer (BAY Quote) published a trial highlighting sorafenib in renal cell carcinoma on Monday, faced both an upgrade and a downgrade on Tuesday. Bear Stearns upgraded the stock to outperform from peer perform and set a stock price target of $40, while Leerink Swan downgraded Onyx to market perform from outperform. The stock, which lost more than 14% on Monday, fell 24 cents, or 0.9%, to $27.05.

Overseas markets were mixed, with London's FTSE 100 recently up 0.3% to 4898 and Germany's Xetra DAX falling 0.2% to 4251. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei fell 1.1% overnight to 10,825, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.4% to 13,667.

Investors will see another key economic report Wednesday with the consumer price index for April, which is expected to increase 0.4% with core CPI rising 0.2%.

To view Aaron Task's video take on today's market, click here.