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10A – Daily News – Friday, March 25, 2011 NEW YORK (AP) — Stronger corporate earnings and signs of a stronger job market lifted stocks Thurs- day. Software company Red Hat Inc., chip maker Micron Technology Inc. and Chef Boyardee maker ConAgra Foods Inc. all reported profits that beat expectations. Earnings growth has been strong across U.S. companies, which are benefiting from lower costs and higher rev- enue overseas. The government also said fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, evidence that lay- offs are slowing. The aver- age number of unemploy- ment filings over the last four weeks has dropped to its lowest level since July 2008. ‘‘Corporate earnings continue to be exceptionally strong,’’ said Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Ser- vices. ‘‘I think the markets continue to focus on the underlying recovery of the U.S. economy.’’ The Dow Jones industri- al average rose 84.54 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 12,170.56. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 12.12, or 0.9 percent, to 1,309.66. The Nasdaq com- Stocks rise after earnings continue to impress Wall Street posite index rose 38.12 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,736.42. Investors turned their attention away from a long list of recent worries includ- ing high oil prices, violence in Libya and Japan’s nuclear crisis. Portugal also looked closer to needing bailout funds from the European Union. Portugal’s government resigned late Wednesday after lawmakers rejected a plan to cut the country’s debts. European leaders are meeting to dis- cuss the region’s debt prob- lems. All three major indexes have gained more than 2 percent this week as Japan appeared to make progress on getting a leaking nuclear plant under control. Among active stocks, Red Hat Inc. jumped 18 percent to $47.26, and Micron Technology Inc. rose 8 percent to $11.50 on their earnings results. ConAgra Foods Inc. rose 2 percent to $23.40. Scholastic Corp., a pub- lisher of children’s books, fell 11 percent to $27.74. Weaker sales pushed it to a wider loss last quarter. The company cut its forecast for full-year earnings, citing tighter budgets for schools. Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry mobile devices, sank 10 percent in after-hours trad- ing after issuing a forecast for earnings in the current “11 DAYS OF ROUND-UP!”“11 DAYS OF ROUND-UP!” 10 DAILY ADS In the DAILY NEWS April 6 – 16 Community events Hurry! They’ll go FAST … $ Promoting local 8500 ea. Your Ad Here Below the Event Box! Brand your business with the RED BLUFF ROUND-UP …or with community events that Your business supports! Call your Daily News Ad Rep at 527-2151! quarter that was well below what analysts expected. Two shares rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated trading vol- ume was 3.9 billion shares. RANDAL S. ELLOWAY DDS IMPLANTS DENTISTRY 2426 SO. 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Have you ever been embarrassed by a denture or a bridge? If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, call us today at (530) 527-6777 to schedule an evaluation appointment. We would be pleased to evaluate your oral health and discuss treatment options with you. Nissan mulls shifting production to US DETROIT (AP) — Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday it is considering moving some engine production from Japan to the U.S. because of earthquake damage to a Japanese plant, another illustration of how seriously the disaster has upended the global network of auto supplies. Car factories could face serious shortages of Japanese parts by the middle of next month unless Japan’s auto indus- try can quickly restart its shuttered production following a devastating earthquake and tsunami March 11, experts say. As stockpiles of parts from Japan run low in the coming weeks, some North American plants are bracing for shut- downs. Toyota has warned workers it may idle operations. “The impact of the supply shortage will begin to be felt more intensely by global automakers by the middle of next month,” Paul Newton, auto analyst with research firm IHS Automotive, said Thursday. Supply disruptions in Japan generally are felt by U.S manufacturers three to four weeks later, depending on a company’s stockpiles, Newton said. That’s because of the time it takes to ship parts from across the globe. So short- ages caused by Japan’s March 11 disaster could hit the U.S. by mid-April. Newton said the Japan disasters could result in a 30 per- cent drop in global automotive production. It’s still unclear how much money will be lost due to the plant closures, he said. He predicted there will be rolling shutdowns of plants, starting as soon as next week, as car companies realize they are about to run short of parts. Plants could deal with short- term shutdowns for the next few months, he said. “It is quite a sharp drop as the supply chain issues filter through,” he said Toyota Motor Corp. said late Wednesday that it expects to halt production at some of its North American factories, but doesn’t know when or for how long. The impact should be limited, Toyota said, because most parts used in its North American factories come from a net- work of 500 suppliers based in the region. It continues to get part shipments from Japan that were en route before the magnitude-9.0 quake struck that nation. The company has already suspended overtime and Sat- urday shifts in North America, where it has 13 plants that build 70 percent of the cars and trucks it sells in the U.S. Nissan said Thursday that its U.S. plants will operate at full production through April 1, and may even pick up some business due to damage at the Iwaki engine plant in Japan. Nissan said it is studying whether to have its Dechard, Tenn., engine plant supply six-cylinder engines to Japan. Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motor Corp. said Thursday that North American produc- tion is continuing normally. Subaru, a division of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., also said that North American pro- duction is continuing, although it has suspended overtime. Fuji resumed making parts for its foreign operations Wednesday. In February, North American production reached 1.06 million vehicles, 15 percent higher than the same month a year earlier. But near-term production is beginning to be hurt by parts shortages from Japan, said Jeff Schuster, exec- utive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power and Asso- ciates. In addition to scaled back production at Toyota and Subaru, GM has idled manufacturing at its Shreveport, La., pickup plant. 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