Despite soaring oil prices, the markets closed higher as investors went bargain hunting. The Dow surged 118 points to 13,661 while Nasdaq leaped 30 points to 2825.

On the upside

Strong revenue growth (NYSE: GES) prompted Guess to lift its full year outlook.

Analysts interpreted the Federal Communications Commission's request for more data about the proposed merger between XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) as a sign that an approval is near.

Third quarter earnings for Valassis Communications (NYSE: VCI) more than doubled to surpass expectations.

On the downside

BioLase Technology CEO Jeffrey W. Jones (Nasdaq: BLTI) resigned after the widened third quarter losses.

Emageon (Nasdaq: EMAG) blamed disappointing sales for widening third quarter losses and lowered its full year outlook.

J. P. Morgan analyst Paul Coster said that although Novatel (Nasdaq: NVTL) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the third quarter, he expects sales to drop next year.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks soared 11 points to 802.