Bernanke Says Credit Markets May Be Improving

The markets continued to advance during the midday with the Dow soaring 170 points to 8444 after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress that the credit markets may be improving.  Nasdaq climbed 8 points to 1490.

On the upside

BB&T Capital Markets upgraded Chiquita Brands International (NYSE: CQB).

Shares of Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) climbed ahead of the release of its first touch screen BlackBerry Storm on Friday.

Third quarter earnings for Home Depot (NYSE: HD) tumbled due to the weakening economy but the results topped analyst estimates.

On the downside

Microchip Technology (Nasdaq: MCHP) and ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN) withdrew their unsolicited bid to acquire Atmel (Nasdaq: ATML).

Saks Fifth Avenue (NYSE: SKS) blamed the sluggish economy for posting a wider than expected loss for the third quarter.

Corning (NYSE: GLW) lowered its outlook for the fourth quarter and withdrew its full year 2009 guidance as demand for glass used to make flat screen televisions and computers tumbled amidst the weakening economy.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a slim margin on the NYSE and by more than 10 to 9 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 6 points to 457.