Budget Unveiled, Markets Open Mixed
The markets opened mixed with the Dow losing 22 points to 12,251 while Nasdaq rose 8 points to 2817 as President Barack Obama unveiled his budget proposal.
On the upside
Hercules Offshore (Nasdaq: HERO) will pay approximately $105 million to acquire 20 jack-up rigs from Seahawk Drilling (Nasdaq: HAWK).
BioSante Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: BPAX) reported positive safety data from its ongoing LibiGel Phase III cardiovascular and breast cancer study.
Robert W. Baird upgraded Manitowoc (NYSE: MTW).
On the downside
Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) reported higher fourth quarter earnings as revenue rose but the company forecast disappointing growth for the current quarter prompting downgrades.
Shares of Nokia (NYSE: NOK) continued falling after the mobile device maker announced the adoption of Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) smartphone operating system.MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM) narrowed fourth quarter losses but revenue fell short of expectations.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 3 points to 825.
