Rise In Existing Home Sales Lifts Markets To Higher Close

On the upside

The Ticketmaster (Nasdaq: TKTM) Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) merger was approved by the Justice Department with certain conditions to protect consumers by promoteing competition and lowering ticket prices.

Kingsway Financial (NYSE: KFS) will sell its holdings in Jevco Insurance to The Westaim Corp.

Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) swung to a fourth quarter profit.

On the downside

Raymond James lifted its earnings outlook for KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) but the stock price fell.

Activision (Nasdaq: ATVI) is offering a free version of Call of Duty: World at War: ZOMBIES through the App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The Iraq Oil Ministry selected ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) to head a twenty year contract to redevelop the country's West Qurna-1 oil field but ExxonMobil's stock price fell.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 7 to 5 on the NYSE while decliners edged out advancers by a slim margin on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added a fraction to 618.