Surge In Home Sales Lifts Markets To Higher Open
A surge in new single family home sales lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow rising 37 points to 12,014. Nasdaq climbed 21 points to 2740.
On the upside
Fourth quarter earnings surged for Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) as expenses dropped and revenue climbed.
US Airways (NYSE: LCC) reversed year ago losses to post a better than expected profit for the fourth quarter as revenue rose.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MRO) upgraded Marathon Oil to an Overweight rating.
On the downside
RF Micro Devices (Nasdaq: RFMD) reported higher third quarter earnings that topped estimates but revenue fell short and the company warned of lower fourth quarter revenue that will miss expectations.
Xerox (NYSE: XRX) blamed restructuring charges for lower fourth quarter earnings and forecast first quarter earnings below estimates. The document systems and services company also announced that chief financial officer Lawrence A. Zimmerman will retire next month.While second quarter earnings for MIPS Technologies (Nasdaq: MIPS) nearly doubled, revenue missed analyst estimates.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE while decliners edged out advancer by nearly 5 to 4 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks edged up a fraction to 779.
