Upbeat Home Sales Lift Markets To Higher Close

Upbeat existing homes lifted the markets to a modestly higher close with the Dow rising 31 points to 11,164. Nasdaq gained 11 points to 2490.

On the upside

Pegasystems (Nasdaq: PEGA) introduced a new solution for mortgage lenders that will automatically eliminate errors and improve productivity.

Forbes lifted its price target on AMD (NYSE: AMD).

Sykes Enterprises (Nasdaq: SYKE) lifted its earnings and revenue guidance for the third quarter as demand increased.

On the downside

Bank of Hawaii (NYSE: BOH) reported higher third quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations as loan loss provisions dropped but the stock price fell.

Roddy Boyd wrote in Seeking Alpha that Harbin Electric (Nasdaq: HRBN) has too many red flags to be a good investment.

Ultra Clean (Nasdaq: UCTT) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the third quarter but the stock price fell.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 4 points to 707.