Upbeat earnings lifted the markets higher during the midday with the Dow soaring 111 points to 12,460. Nasdaq climbed 15 points to 2337.

On the upside

An analyst upgraded Mentor Graphics (Nasdaq: MENT) after the company reported preliminary 2008 results that surpassed expectations.

Fourth quarter earnings for OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX) rose to beat estimates despite falling sales as the company cut expenses.

A surge in sales lifted fourth quarter earnings for Holly (Nasdaq: HOC) to beat expectations.

On the downside

Credit Suisse (Nasdaq: CS) overstated its assets by $2.85 billion and has suspended some traders for overvaluing securities. The bank may also have to restate 2007 financials.

Idearc (NYSE: IAR) named chairman John Mueller as a replacement for Kathy Harless in the position of chief executive.

CapitalSource (NYSE: CSE) may terminate its acquistion of TierOne (Nasdaq: TONE) or change the terms of the deal.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 7 points to 708.