Markets Rebound At Midday
The markets rebounded during the midday with the Dow rising 33 points to 10,845 despite a sharper than expected drop in consumer confidence. Nasdaq added 4 points to 2375.
On the upside
Blackstone Group's (NYSE: BX) refining joint venture PBF Energy will pay approximately $360 million for Valero Energy's (NYSE: VLO) refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey.
Standard & Poor's will replace AmeriCredit (NYSE: ACF), which is being acquired by General Motors, with Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX) in the S&P MidCap 400 after market close on Thursday, September 30.
Harvest Natural Resources (NYSE: HNR) retained the services of Bank of America Merrill Lynch to explore strategic alternatives to increase shareholder value including the possible sale of the energy company.
On the downside
The Department of Justice demanded documents related to clinical and business operations from Amedisys (Nasdaq: AMED) for its Medicare fraud investigation into the home health services provider.
Entropic Communications (Nasdaq: ENTR) will raise funds through the offering of 11.5 million common shares.
Monsanto's (NYSE: MON) new genetically modified corn seed product SmartStax failed to produce the crop yields that were expected.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 4 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks edged up a fraction to 668.
