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Nasdaq Leads Pack As Dow Jones Stocks Lag

U.S. stock indexes popped higher in late morning trade Tuesday. The Dow Jones trailed the Nasdaq, while semiconductors, leisure and international oil explorers rose.

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The Nasdaq surged 1.4%, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.8%. Small caps and blue chips were off the pace: The Russell 2000 and Dow Jones industrial average added 0.3% and 0.4% respectively.

Volume ran higher on both major exchanges.

Semiconductor designer Xilinx (XLNX) gained 0.7% to about 4% off its high. Chipmaker and Dow Jones member Intel (INTC) added 0.5% but remains 15% off its high. Intel has been consolidating since June. Both firms report earnings next week.

Chip Designers Up

The chip designer group is rising in the industry group ranks, up 85 places in the past six weeks. Going into Tuesday's session, chip designers were No. 35 among 197 industry groups.

In the leisure space, Netflix (NFLX) jumped 6%. The stock is working on a double-bottom base and is about 10% under a possible entry at 386.90.

Netflix announced that it is raising its prices 13% to 18%. The Street is convinced the price increases will have little impact on number of subscribers. Earnings are due Thursday after the close.

International oil explorer Apache (APA) gapped up 2.5% in heavy volume but then retreated to a 0.3% gain. The stock is on track for its 10th daily gain in a row. Apache, though, is 36% off its high.

Light sweet crude oil rose 2.6% to $51.83. The price of oil is up almost 22% since Christmas Eve but is still 34% off its high.

Crosswinds For Banks

Bank stocks ran into some crosswinds Tuesday as Citigroup (C) added 3.5% in strong volume, while JPMorgan Chase (JPM) slid 0.6% in fast trade. Citigroup reported quarterly results Monday, topping earnings by 13.5%, according to William O'Neil + Co. data,

JPMorgan reported early Tuesday, missing earnings estimates by 10%.

First Republic Bank (FRC) also reported results Tuesday. The San Francisco-based bank surged 11% in heavy volume. First Republic beat the Street's consensus estimate by 4.9%.

Wells Fargo (WFC) topped analysts' estimates by 2.5%. The stock fell anyhow, slicing off about 2.4%.

Managed care provider UnitedHealth (UNH) knifed 3% higher after its earnings results edged above views by about 2%.

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