Stocks Open Higher on Hopes of Economic Recovery
On the upside
Ford (NYSE: F) is expected to report its first year-over-year gain in monthly auto sales due in part to the popularity of the "cash for clunkers" program to get consumers to upgrade to fuel-efficient cars.
Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from the board of directors of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) in a tacit acknowledgment of increasing overlaps between the two company's product lines.
Shares of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: KERX) rose after the FDA allowed the company to move forward with late-stage study of its cancer drug candidate.
An analyst upgraded Deltek (Nasdaq: PROJ) whose shares recently rallied. The company provides project management business software.
On the downside
Shares of Huron Consulting Group (Nasdaq: HURN) tumbled in a dramatic fashion after the company lowered its guidance, announced that it would restate results, and accepted the resignations of its CEO and CFO.
Savient Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SVNT) failed to win approval by the FDA for its drug treatment of chronic gout.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 5 points to 562.
