Oracle, Adobe Rise Ahead of Results

Oracle and Adobe rallied nearly 3% each Monday ahead of their earnings reports.

Both technology bellwethers will report results after the market close on Tuesday.

Oracle is expected to report a 23% jump in quarterly sales to $4.33 billion, according to Thomson Financial. Earnings are expects to climb by four cents a share to 23 cents.

Analysts believe Adobe will report sales of $655.6 million, flat with the year-ago quarter, and earnings are expected to decline 10% to 29 cents a share. Growth will return in the current quarter with the release of Creative Suite 3 next week.

The broader market posted strong gains Monday on another round of mergers and optimism ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision on interest rates, even though inflation reports last week suggested that the Fed will have a difficult time cutting interest rates to stem the sub-prime mortgage meltdown.

Take-Two gained on news that it’s seeking a buyer.

Nortel fell 3% on a warning, and Diodes lost ground on its guidance.

Apple and Microsoft edged higher on upbeat analyst comments.

PeopleSupport tumbled on an SG Cowen downgrade.

The Nasdaq rose 22 to 2394, the S&P 500 gained 15 to 1402, and the Dow climbed 115 to 12,226. Volume declined to 2.78 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.73 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancing issues led by a 24-8 margin on the NYSE, and 20-10 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 84% on the NYSE, and 62% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 112-23 on the NYSE, and 97-73 on the Nasdaq.