71.   Pharmaceutical companies and brokerage houses also had strong quarters, and General Motors beat expectations.

72.   Revenue was in line with expectations, and the company was able to beat expectations by improving its margins, Phillips said.

73.   Results for both companies slightly beat Wall Street expectations.

74.   Rising fuel costs led to a decline in third-quarter earnings at Southwest Airlines, but the airline still beat expectations.

75.   Retail stocks also rose, as Sears, Roebuck forecast that its second-quarter earnings would beat earlier expectations.

76.   Share rallied as investors welcomed robust earnings growth by Wisconsin-based companies that were able to meet or beat expectations.

77.   Shares of Microsoft and International Business Machines Corp. surged after the two technology giants reported results that beat expectations.

78.   That apprehension began lifting this week as the earnings season began in earnest and most companies beat expectations.

79.   That way the company has a better chance of beating expectations.

80.   That was the slimmest that Microsoft beat expectations since the year-earlier quarter.