eBay Rises After Beating Estimates

Shares of eBay climbed after hours on Tuesday after the company beat earnings estimates. Stocks rose during the day on neutral comments from Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, but shares of Akamai dropped on concern about lockup expiration.

The ISDEX gained 20 to 784 and the Nasdaq rose 47 to 4029. The S&P added 10 to 1474, and the Dow tacked on 14 to 10,699. Volume rose to 953 million shares on the NYSE, but was unchanged at 1.46 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers edged decliners 14 to 13 on the NYSE and 21 to 18 on the Nasdaq. July's Consumer Confidence reading came in stronger than expected. The major economic reports for the week are the second-quarter Employment Cost Index on Thursday and the GDP on Friday. Amazon.com reports earnings after the close tomorrow. For earnings reports, visit our earnings calendar and reported earnings.

eBay rose 1 1/8 to 56 1/4 in regular trading and added another $1 after hours. The company reported earnings of 5 cents a share, 2 cents better than expected, and revenue nearly doubled to $97.4 million. AskJeeves beat estimates by 4 cents with a 51-cent loss, but the stock slipped after hours after rising 9/16 to 17 in regular trading. Vignette beat estimates by a penny with 1-cent earnings, but the stock dropped to 40 after hours, after rising 1/2 to 43 5/8 ahead of earnings.

In regular trading on Tuesday, Akamai Technologies fell 22 5/8 to 85 1/4 despite reporting a second-quarter loss of 50 cents a share, 7 cents better than estimates. Investors were concerned about lockup expirations over the next several weeks. A 2.8 million-share lockup will expire on Aug. 1, and 58 million on Sept. 13. Merrill Lynch began coverage with a near-term Accumulate/long-term Buy rating.