rising in most U.S Stocks

Most U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 to a debt crisis in two years, as concern better than expected earnings forecasts from Oracle Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. and the acquisition of a regional bank in Europe is spreading shade.

Oracle rose 3.9 percent for the highest price since 2001. Marshall & Ilsley Corp. rose 18 per cent of Bank of Montreal has agreed to buy the lender for $ 4.1 billion. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. advanced 2 percent as metals rose. Drug manufacturers slipped, with Merck & Co., dragging down the Dow Jones industrial average after AstraZeneca Plc, failed to win U.S. approval for a new blood thinner.

About six stocks gained for every five that fell on U.S. exchanges. The S & P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 1243.91 at 4 pm in New York, its highest close since September 2008. The Dow Jones fell 7.34 points, or 0.1 percent, at 11,491.91. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, sank 7.4 percent to 16.11, the lowest since April.

"The economic data has been confirmed," said Philip Orlando, New York, chief market strategist at Federated Investors Inc. actions, which manages $ 341 300 000 000. "Corporate earnings have been strong. As market recognizes that, you will begin to see a good Santa Claus rally to reflect more confidence in the macro."

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The S & P 500 rose yesterday to its highest level since the aftermath of the collapse s Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008 for the first time claims for jobless benefits fell unexpectedly and builders began work on more homes in November. His recent rally has led to testing more than 15.5 times reported profits, the highest since June.

Oracle, the second largest software maker, rose 3.9 percent to $ 31.46. The company reported second-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates, helped by sales of databases and hardware expansion. Oracle was upgraded to "outperform" from "market perform" at Oppenheimer & Co.

Research In Motion Ltd. rose 1.6 percent to $ 60.20. The BlackBerry maker forecast fourth-quarter earnings of at least $ 1.74 per share, exceeding analysts' average forecast.

The S & P 500 Regional Banks Index of 11 companies met 1.5 percent. Bank of Montreal will pay 0.1257 of its shares for each share of Marshall & Ilsley, a bank based in Toronto, said in a statement. The deal values Marshall & Ilsley to $ 7.75 per share, 34 percent higher than yesterday's closing price of $ 5.79 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Marshall & Ilsley soared 18 percent to 6.85 dollars, its biggest increase since May 2009. Regions Financial Corp. rose 1.8 percent to $ 6.24. KeyCorp gained 4.1 percent to $ 8.42.

"Betting strongly"

U.S. options Traders are making more optimistic bets on banks in more than a year, speculation in financial companies will converge when the economy improves and analysts predict a growth of 21 percent profit next year.

"People in the options market are betting heavily that these actions will go up," said Chris Rich, chief options strategist at JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC in Chicago. "I'm seeing a lot of smart kids money to buy off-the-money call-in banks. When I see everyone marching in the same direction at the same time, that's something to take notice. Is a strong signal."

InterMune Inc. rose 145 percent, to $ 34.89. Esbriet drug company, a treatment of mild to moderate idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a serious lung disease, is recommended for approval by European regulatory committee.

Sara Lee, JBS

Sara Lee Corp. gained 5.3 percent to $ 17.26. The maker of Jimmy Dean breakfast foods is examining whether to sell the Brazilian beef processor JBS SA, according to the Wall Street Journal. JBS the largest meat processing company, began the search for Downers Grove-based Sara Lee in Illinois and talks on and off for months, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Sara Lee may also try to put their business in drinks and meat for sale, said the WSJ.

Stocks fell in Europe today even if the European Central Bank and the Bank of England created a temporary swap line to help ease the liquidity to lenders in Ireland where the sovereign debt crisis intensifies . The Bank of England could provide up to 10 million pounds ($ 15,500,000,000) to the ECB in exchange for euros, if necessary, the central bank based in Frankfurt, said in a statement. The facility will allow funds to be made available to the central bank of Ireland.

Ireland Bonds

Irish bank bonuses high collapsed after Moody's Investors Service downgraded the credit rating of the country into five levels, citing its financial strength and decrease the cost of bailing out lenders. Moreover, the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for economic growth in Ireland. The Washington-based fund said it expects the Irish economy to grow 0.9 percent in 2011, compared with 2.3 percent estimated by the Fund in October.

"You see this constant coming and going in Europe," said John Praveen, the Newark, New Jersey, head of investment strategy based on Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC, which oversees 690 billion U.S. dollars. "There is still concern about the lowering of credit even when European policy makers try to offer some relief. Other than that, everything else seems to be working very well."

U.S. index leading economic indicators rose in November by the most in eight months, a sign of recovery will strengthen next year. The Conference Board's measure of the outlook for the next three to six months rose 1.1 percent after rising 0.4 percent in October revised.

Merck, Pfizer

Merck, the drug maker's second-largest U.S., fell 1 percent to $ 36.48. Pfizer Inc., the biggest drugmaker in the world, fell 1.1 percent to $ 17.03.

AstraZeneca fell the most in more than two years in London trading after the drugmaker in the UK failed to win U.S. approval for a new blood thinner Plavix rival, the world's second best selling drug. The Food and Drug Administration requested additional analysis of a study called Plato Brilinta compared with Plavix in patients with severe chest pain or heart attacks earlier, AstraZeneca said yesterday.

solar stocks declined after DigiTimes said Germany is in talks to reduce incentives for solar PV systems by 16 percent on 1 July. First Solar slid 1.7 percent, $ 133.25. JA Solar Holdings Co. fell 3.3 percent to $ 6.67.

Discover Financial Services lost 2.8 percent to $ 18.02. The fourth largest U.S. payments network had its fiscal 2011 earnings estimate cut to $ 1.72 per share, from $ 1.79 per RBC Capital Markets, which cited a "major" release of loan loss reserves during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 .