Strength in Asia signals U.S. stocks could have another good day

  It looks like the rally could run for another day.

Overnight Asian stocks moved up in reaction to rising prices in the U.S. markets on May 12 and to good earnings news from technology bellwethers IBM (IBM) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) after the close of U.S. trading.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was up 1.8% as of 2 a.m. in Tokyo. Chinese stocks showed their biggest gain in three weeks. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.8% as of the mid-day trading break.

Technology stocks led the MSCI Asia Pacific Index after both IBM and Cisco Systems beat earnings estimates.

Strong earnings reports from Tokyo Electron, the world’s second-largest maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and Elpida, the No. 3 maker of memory chips in the world, added to sector momentum. Shares of Tokyo Electron were up 6.7%.

 Shares of Asian exporters were helped by the earlier report that the U.S. trade deficit had climbed to its highest level in more than a year as U.S. imports grew faster than exports.