Stockhouse @ the Bell: Big confidence boost for North American stocks

Today on Stockhouse

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Alternative energy tech co. hopes solar and friction does mix, explains AllPennyStocks.com.

This fund manager is making gold cool on Wall Street, says Andrew Mickey.

Put selling a bullish sign for Research In Motion, notes Jud Pyle.

In today’s Got Gold Report by Gene Arensberg: gold, silver surge as buck battered.

Inter-market analysis: say bye to gold, silver, oil & equities, from Chris Vermeulen.

For more articles on gold and silver, please visit the Stockhouse gold & silver feature supplement: https://www.stockhousefeatures.com/gold-and-silver/

Buzz on the Boards visited the La Mancha Resources (TSX: T.LMA, Stock Forum) and Denison Mines Corp. (TSX: T.DML, Stock Forum) Bullboards.

Top Bullboards post: In a post entitled “Vanadium is going to be HUGE”on the Uranium Star Corp. (OTC: BB: URST, Stock Forum) Bullboard, Carcar said: “I've been looking into what this stuff is used for and it turns out it will be one of the most important elements for use in electric power storage for both vehicles and the new power grid Obama just signed into reality. If URST really has the world's largest Vanadium find ready to be announced then this stock should be worth a lot and not too far in the future. Uranium is so last year. Vanadium is so next year!”

Top Bullboard: The Ithaca Energy (TSX: V.IAE, Stock Forum) board had the most posts on Tuesday.

Top blog: jackp27 discussed “The Air Mattress Effect” on the A New York Nickel blog Tuesday.

For news about small stocks that made big moves in Tuesday trading, please read the Stockhouse Canadian Small and Micro-cap Stock Report.

Word on Wall Street

"When missiles start flying, everyone wants to run back to the dollar," Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading told the Associated Press.

Today In The Markets

BMO earnings, jump in U.S. consumer confidence send stocks surging

DJIA	8,473.49	+196.17
NASDAQ	1,750.43	+58.42
S&P500	910.33	+23.33
S&P/TSX	10,285.90	+216.40
S&P/TSX Venture	1,097.16	+0.73

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TORONTO, NEW YORK (CP) - Stock markets surged Tuesday as Bank of Montreal's earnings beat expectations while hopes rose for an economic rebound by the end of the year following a much stronger than expected reading on U.S. consumer confidence.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index moved 216.4 points higher to 10,285.9. The TSX Venture Exchange was 0.73 of a point higher to 1,097.16.

New York's Dow Jones industrial average jumped 196.17 points to 8,473.49 after the U.S. Conference Board said consumer confidence in May soared to the highest level since last September amid tentative signs that the economy is improving. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 58.42 points to 1,750.43 while the S&P 500 index was ahead 23.33 points to 910.33.

Please click here for the current U.S. and Canadian market summaries.

After-Hours News

Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE)
After Tuesday’s close, the LED lighting company raised its outlook for its fiscal fourth-quarter because of stronger-than-expected orders. Cree /quotes/comstock/15*!cree/quotes/nls/cree now sees fourth-quarter earnings of seven cents to nine cents a share, or 15 cents to 17 cents a share adjusted, on revenue of $143 million to $150 million. Wall Street was looking for earnings of nine cents a share on revenue of $139.2 million.

Planet Exploration (TSX: V.PXI)
The junior explorer, after Tuesday’s closing bell, reported results from ongoing drilling on the Sidace Lake Property in Ontario, under its joint venture with Red Lake Gold Mines, an affiliate of Goldcorp Inc. Intersections included 1.53 g/t gold over 151.00 meters.