Higher Open On Earnings News
Upbeat corporate earnings lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow climbing 68 points to 11,960. Nasdaq soared 29 point to 2729.
On the upside
Manitowoc (NYSE: MTW) widened fourth quarter losses but revenue rose.
Chinese search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) impressed with sharply higher earnings that topped analyst estimates.
Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) reported higher fourth quarter earnings that surpassed expectations by a wide margin.
On the downside
The Food and Drug Administration did not approve Orexigen Therapeutics' (Nasdaq: OREX) weight loss treatment Contrave and requested additional drug trials to study possible safety concerns.
Energizer Holdings (NYSE: ENR) disappointed with lower first quarter earnings that fell short of analyst estimates and forecast full year results below expectations.Fifth Street Finance (NYSE: FSC) priced its offering of 10 million common shares at the discounted price of $12.65 per share.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 5 points 786.
