(AP) - Stock prices are rising at midday on Wall Street.
Investors have sent stock prices higher today, helped by strong preliminary quarterly earnings numbers from IBM, which were aided by its strong performance in Asia, Europe and emerging countries.
The badly beaten financial sector remains in the spotlight, amid concern that some of the firms reporting earnings this week could also take larger-than-feared writedowns.
Sears Holdings has warned that its upcoming fourth-quarter report could show a decline as high as 51 percent from year-earlier levels, adding to concerns that economic weakness is slowing the retail sector.
Oil prices have risen today as weather forecasts for the U.S. have raised expectations that demand for energy will surge in the coming days.
Near-month crude was up a dollar a barrel to $93.72 in New York.
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