Closing Bell Report
The markets recovered in the late afternoon to close higher as crude oil inventories climbed. The Dow gained 69 points to 11,417 while Nasdaq added 5 points to 2389.
On the upside
XTO Energy (NYSE: XTO) declared a quarter dividend of 12 cents per common share payable on October 15 to shareholders of record September 30.
Student lender Sallie Mae (NYSE: SLM) will receive funds from a new government program guaranteeing loans to students.
Citigroup analyst Jim Suva affirmed his Buy rating for Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) and approved of the company's new BlackBerry Bold.
On the downside
Citi Trends (Nasdaq: CTRN) reported higher second quarter earnings as revenue rose but the stock price tumbled.
Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) completed its stock repurchase plan. The company bought nearly 86,000 shares for approximately $2.3 million.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 10 to 9 on the NYSE while decliners barely edged out advancers by a slim margin on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 2 points to 732.
