Stocks Tear It Up

As for financial-space results, joining Citi in the green were online broker E*Trade (ETFC) and regional bank Zions (ZION).

E*Trade lost $91.2 million in the first quarter, but shares ratcheted up 9.7% as it also cited a growing customer base and detailed the progress of its reorganization plan. Zions saw a big profit drop that was just off the consensus estimate, but the stock still moved up 6.4%.

Capital One(COF) shares were under pressure, however, after saying its outlook had "significantly deteriorated due to weakness in U.S. economy," even though the credit-card company also edged ahead of analyst projections with a slipping profit of $1.47 a share. The stock was cut to negative ratings at both Piper Jaffray and Keefe Bruyette, and Friedman Billings shaved down its price target. Shares fell 3.1%.

Back in the tech space, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares also turned in a lackluster performance after the chipmaker posted a loss of $358 million, or 59 cents a share, even though that was in line with analysts' subdued targets and sharply narrowed from a year earlier. Shares shed 1.3% at $6.11.

Fellow semiconductor concern SanDisk (SNDK) missed on earnings but beat on revenue, and shares rose 5.8%.

Away from earnings, AT&T (T) disclosed that it's firing 1.5% of its workforce, or about 4,650 employees, primarily from management positions. The company added that it will take a related charge of $374 million, and that the actual headcount should remain "stable" this year as it hires other employees in order to "support growth areas." Shares were down marginally at $37.51.

Crude oil had its fifth straight record-breaking day, hitting a new high of $116.93 before retreating to a gain of $1.83 at $115.62, a closing record.

Gold futures, however, slid $27.70 to $915.20 an ounce, spurring a selloff in the gold-mining sector. Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM),Barrick Gold (ABX), Goldcorp (GG), Newmont Mining (NEM) and Kinross Gold (KGC) were all losing between 1.7% and 4.8%.

At the same time, the U.S. dollar was healing some of its wounds. The greenback firmed by 0.5% against the euro to $1.5807 and was fetching 103.68 yen, a 1.2% climb from the prior settlement.

Markets abroad were mostly higher. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 0.3% overnight, but the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.6%. Among European exchanges, the FTSE 100 in London was up 1.3%, and Germany's Xetra Dax surged 2.4%. The Paris Cac tacked on 2.1%.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints