A Drop In Jobless Claims Lifts Markets Higher
Despite lower May retail sales, the markets traded modestly higher during the midday with the Dow rising 35 points to 8711 as initial jobless claims dropped. Nasdaq gained 11 points to 1837.
On the upside
Novavax (Nasdaq: NVAX) will work with the National Institutes of Health to evaluate a virus-like particle vaccine against the swine flu, influenza A (H1N1), virus.
First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE: FR) closed three secured financing transactions for a total of $154 million.
RBC Capital Markets upgraded KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) from sector perform to top pick.
On the downside
Compass Diversified Holdings (Nasdaq: CODI) priced its offering of 5.1 million trust shares at $8.85 per share.Gap (NYSE: GPS) disappointed with a larger than expected 6% drop in same store sales in May.
Macy's (NYSE: M) reported that May same store sales tumbled 9.1%.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 4 points to 527.
