Upbeat Jobless Report Lifts Markets

An upbeat jobless report lifted the markets higher on the final trading day of the year with the Dow gaining 70 points to 8739.  Nasdaq soared 20 points to 1570.

On the upside

The Food and Drug Administration approved Labopharm's (Nasdaq: DDSS) once a day extended release pain medication RYZOLT.

China BAK Battery (Nasdaq: CBAK) will hold a conference call on Friday January 23 to discuss first quarter financial results.

The Phoenix Companies (NYSE: PNX) entered a reinsurance agreement with a subsidiary of Swiss Re.

On the downside

Shares of Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) continued falling after the Kuwaiti government cancelled its $17.4 billion joint venture with the chemical company.

Investors locked in profits for Northfield Laboratories (Nasdaq: NFLD), whose stock price surged yesterday after receiving priority review for its red blood cell drug.

Anthracite Capital (NYSE: AHR) extended its credit lines and announced that it will pay only the minimum required dividends on its common shares.

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 climbed 8 points to 491.