Easing Oil Prices Lift Markets At Midday
Easing crude oil prices lifted the markets higher during the midday with the Dow climbing 79 points to 12,148. Nasdaq surged 40 points to 2778.
On the upside
Credit Suisse lifted its price target on Hercules Offshore (Nasdaq: HERO).
Alanco Technologies (Nasdaq: ALAN) will sell its StarTrak Systems subsidiary in a deal valued at approximately $19.7 milllion.
Fourth quarter earnings for Sunrise Senior Living (NYSE: SRZ) nearly quadrupled.
On the downside
Kaufman Bros. initiated coverage of LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) with a Buy rating but the stock price tumbled.
Fourth quarter earnings surged for JC Penney (NYSE: JCP) but the department store operator provided a disappointing outlook for 2011.American International Group (NYSE: AIG) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the fourth quarter due to asset sales. Excluding the sale of assets, the insurer widened losses.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 11 points to 815.
