Daily Data Flow: Earnings Keep Dow over 15,000; Colleges Attracting Rich Students, Shortchanging Poor; Euro Rises on German Data

Earnings Keep Dow over 15,000 (Bloomberg)
After passing 15,000 points yesterday, today’s earnings kept the Dow above that mark. The S&P 500 also rose today. “We’ve recovered from the nervousness that we saw in the market in April and we’ve built a nice base here,” Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer of Lisle, Illinois-based Oakbrook Investments LLC, said. “We’ve gotten through the earnings season and we’re turning to the phase in the quarter where economic reports will determine if the market can hold up.”

Colleges Attracting Rich Students, Shortchanging Poor (Bloomberg)
According to a recent report, U.S. colleges have now been luring rich students with financial aid, while shortchanging the poor, leading them to take on massive debt. The report’s author, Stephen Burd, explains: “Colleges are always saying how committed they are to admitting low-income students — that they are all about equality.” Burd continued, “This data shows there’s been a dramatic shift. The pursuit of prestige and revenue has led them to focus more on high-income students.”

Euro Rises on German Data (Reuters)
Today, good data from Germany overcame fears of an interest rate cut from the European Central Bank to lead the euro to its highest point against the dollar in a week and its best position against the yen in two weeks. “People are also starting to believe that the worst of the euro zone crisis is behind it,” said Brad Bechtel, managing director at Faros Trading in Stamford, Connecticut.