Chinese investment plan boosts markets

A $46 billion investment plan by China and Pakistan boosted the markets during the midday with Dow jumping 233 points to 18,059. Nasdaq soared 59 points to 4,990.

On the upside

Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) fell to a loss for the first quarter on lower revenue but the results were better than expected.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency loosened capital requirements on some mortgages which lifted shares of MGIC Investment (NYSE: MTG).

Xueda Education Group (NYSE: XUE) received a non-binding buyout offer of $3.38 per American Depositary Share from Insight Investment.

On the downside

FARO Technologies (Nasdaq: FARO) warned that first quarter revenue would fall short of analyst expectations prompting downgrades.

Shares of Juno Therapeutics (Nasdaq: JUNO) and Ziopharm Oncology (Nasdaq: ZIOP) fell after Novartis (NYSE: NVS) and University of Pennsylvania reported disappointing CAR-T cell therapies data at the American Association for Cancer Research over the weekend.

Investors continued to lock in profits on Etsy (Nasdaq: ETSY).

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 soared 21 points to 2102. Bitcoin added $1 to $223.