Upbeat Earnings Lift Markets To Modestly Higher Close

Despite concerns that the global economy remains in a recession, upbeat earnings lifted the markets to a modestly higher close with the Dow adding 14 points to 8178. Nasdaq edged up a point to 1747.

 

On the upside

Gravity (Nasdaq: GRVY) reported sharply higher first quarter revenue.

DynCorp (NYSE: DCP) won a $1.5 billion contract to provide support services to the U. S. Army in Afghanistan.

Steak n Shake (NYSE: TRGT) reported a 5% jump in same store sales for the third quarter as customer traffic surged 13.4%.

On the downside

Genworth Financial (Nasdaq: GNW) closed its public offering of 44.7 million shares of common stock of its Canadian unit.

Somaxon Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SOMX) completed a 5.1 million common share private placement.

Huntington Bancshares (Nasdaq: HBAN) granted new Chief Risk Officer Kevin Blakely 40,000 shares of restricted stock.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped 4 points to 479.