Stocks: Monday's review

Japanese stocks rose for a third day after U.S. companies reported better-than-expected earnings and President Barack Obama said Osama bin Laden is dead.
Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), the world’s largest carmaker, and Sony Corp. (6758), Japan’s biggest electronics exporter, both advanced at least 1.9 percent.
Komatsu Ltd. (6301), the world’s No. 2 manufacturer of construction equipment, jumped 3 percent after rival Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) posted earnings that beat estimates.
Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. advanced 2.1 percent to 2,007 yen and Kubota Corp. (6326), a maker of farming equipment, rose 1.4 percent to 781 yen.
Oil driller Inpex Corp. (1605) and other energy-related companies fell after crude prices dropped by the most in two weeks.
Shares also rose after Japanese companies posted better earnings. Seiko Epson Corp. (6724) jumped 5.7 percent to 1,492 yen after forecasting net income will soar by 66 percent this fiscal year, buoyed by demand from China, India and other Asian countries. Ebara Corp. (6361) surged 5.9 percent to 482 yen after reporting full-year net income that more than doubled its own forecast. Profit at the pump maker rose to 28.5 billion yen ($350 million) in the 12 months ended March 31, according to a preliminary earnings statement on April 28.
Panasonic Corp. (6752), the world’s largest maker of plasma televisions, increased 2.8 percent to 1,026 yen after it announced plans to cut almost 17,000 jobs over two years as part of an overhaul to restore profitability.

European stocks advanced for an eighth day, the longest winning streak in 10 months, as U.S. President Barack Obama said al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan yesterday.
Danisco A/S climbed to the highest since 1989 as the world’s largest food-ingredients maker received an increased takeover bid from DuPont Co.
Demag Cranes AG (D9C) jumped 24 percent after Terex Industrial Holding AG offered to buy the company.
TNT NV (TNT) lost 1.4 percent after the Dutch mail carrier that’s spinning off its express unit said profit fell.
Actelion Ltd. (ATLN) plunged the most in 14 months.
Grifols SA (GRF) rallied 5.3 percent to 14.08 euros, the highest price in more than two years, after the Barcelona, Spain-based maker of blood-plasma products said its purchase of Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp. won tentative U.S. antitrust approval.
Commerzbank AG (CBK) rose 3.2 percent to 4.44 euros after Germany’s second-biggest bank said profit in the first three months of the year climbed 40 percent to a quarterly record as it set aside less money to cover risky loans.
Carmakers posted the best performance among 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600 today as Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) and Daimler AG (DAI) led the advance. The two biggest makers of luxury cars gained 1.2 percent to 64.44 euros and 0.6 percent to 52.51 euros, respectively.
Fiat SpA (F) advanced 3.9 percent to 7.49 euros as its Chrysler Group LLC unit reported its first quarterly profit since emerging from bankruptcy reorganization in 2009.
European manufacturing growth accelerated more than estimated in April, driven by higher output in Germany and France, suggesting the region’s economy is weathering surging energy costs. A gauge of manufacturing in the 17-nation euro area rose to 58 from 57.5 in March, London-based Markit Economics said. That’s above an initial estimate of 57.7 on April 19. A reading above 50 indicates growth.

U.S. stocks edged lower on Monday as investors shifted their focus back to the economy and earnings news.
Monday's losses ends what was a five-day long positive streak for the S&P 500 and Dow.
Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500), Merck (MRK, Fortune 500) and American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) led the blue chips higher Monday, but shares of Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) offset the gains and weighed down the tech sector. Applied Materials (AMAT, Fortune 500) and Whole Foods (WFMI, Fortune 500) were the Nasdaq's biggest laggards.
The losses on Monday come after stocks finished their best month this year on Friday.
Corporate earnings have largely come in above expectations, but last week's weak GDP reading and higher-than-forecast jobless claims show there's still cause for concern about the U.S. economic recovery.
U.S. investors will get the April jobs report, a closely watched gauge of U.S. economic activity, this upcoming Friday.
Economy: The Institute for Supply Management said its April manufacturing index fell to a reading of 60.4%, better than the reading of 58.5% that economists had expected.
Companies: The Nasdaq-100 index will be rebalanced to reduce the weight of Apple's stock by about 40%. Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) currently represents 20.5% of the index. After the rebalancing, Apple's weight will be reduced to 12.3%.
Shares of TiVo (TIVO) were up 3% after DISH Network Corporation (DISH, Fortune 500) and EchoStar Corporation (SATS) announced they will pay TiVo $500 million to settle an ongoing patent dispute.
Separately, DISH reported earnings per share of $1.22 for the quarter ended in March, easily topping forecasts. Also, DISH said it gained approximately 58,000 net subscribers during the quarter. Shares of DISH jumped 19%.