Flat Close Ahead Of Earnings Reports

The markets closed flat with the Dow rising 3 points to 11,010 ahead of earnings reports later this week. Nasdaq edged up a fraction to 2402.

On the upside

UBS analyst John Janedis said that newspaper ads increased 4% over this time last year for October lifting shares of New York Times (NYSE: NYT).

A district court dismissed a class action lawsuit for securities law violations against Flotek Industries (NYSE: FTK) .

FBR Capital analyst Liz Dunn upgraded J. C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) and lifted her price target on the department store operator.

On the downside

Needham analyst N. Quinn Bolton downgraded TriQuint Semiconductor (Nasdaq: TQNT) citing valuation concerns.

Credit Suisse analyst Phillip Winslow expects lower September orders for Citrix Systems' (Nasdaq: CTXS) XenDesktop to drop.

Everest Re Group (NYSE: RE) president and chief operating officer Ralph Jones resigned. Jones was selected to replace outgoing chief executive officer Joseph V. Taranto in January, 2011

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE while decliners edged out advancers by more than 10 to 9 on Nasdaq.