Closing Bell Report

A bigger than expected increase for durable goods orders in July lifted the markets to a higher close with the Dow rising 90 points to 11,503.  Nasdaq climbed 20 points to 2382.

On the upside

Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) narrowed second quarter losses despite lower revenue as the book retailer restructures.

Shares of Frontier Oil (NYSE: FTO) and Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) climbed as the nation's inventory of crude oil dropped.

Although Chico's FAS (NYSE: CHS) reported sharply lower second quarter earnings, the results surpassed analyst estimates.

On the downside

Stifel Nicolaus analyst David Bishop downgraded BankUnited Financial (Nasdaq: BKUNA) saying that the bank has been unsuccessful in raising capital.

Standard & Poor's downgraded the debt rating of Cott (NYSE: COT) which keeps the Canadian soft drink company on credit watch.

Russia warned that it may lower imports of pork and chicken sending shares of chicken producer Pilgrim's Pride (NYSE: PPC) tumbling.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks soared 9 points to 733.