Stocks mostly up on solid earnings

NEW YORK -- Companies' solid earnings reports and upbeat outlooks are sending stocks mostly higher.

Earnings reports have largely exceeded expectations so far this earnings season, fostering a renewed sense of optimism in the market and helping to drive the Dow Jones industrials back into the black for the year.

Though the bar had been set fairly low for the second quarter, the results are still an encouraging sign that the recession is taking less of a toll on corporate America than it was just a few months ago.

Companies' reports have largely exceeded expectations so far this earnings season, fostering a renewed sense of optimism in the market and helping to drive the Dow Jones industrials back into the black for the year.

"This is the most solid evidence that we've seen that conditions are improving," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank, of the earnings reports.

Investors will also be listening intently to testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who will give his semiannual report to Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. The market is anxious for his take on the economy, and are hungry for any clues on how the central bank plans to exit the numerous emergency support programs put in place last fall at the height of the financial crisis.