Bank Of America To Repay Government

On the upside

The Food and Drug Administration lifted a two-year hold on CytRx's (Nasdaq: CYTR) Lou Gehrig disease drug candidate arimoclomol. 

Robert W. Baird analyst J. Michael Horwitz upgraded Energy Recovery (Nasdaq: ERII) after the company announced that it will pay approximately $25.7 million to acquire Pump Engineering.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) announced that it will repay the entire $45 billion it received from the government bailout.

On the downside

November same store sales for Children's Place Retail Stores (Nasdaq: PLCE) tumbled 13%, well below analyst expectations.

Although Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) reported higher third quarter results that topped estimates, the retailer's fourth quarter outlook disappointed. 

Family Dollar Stores (NYSE: FDO) reported a modest rise in same store sales but revenue fell short of estimates.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 5 points to 601.