Upbeat Earnings Lift Markets To Higher Close

The markets closed modestly higher with the Dow adding 8 points 12,402 as upbeat earnings tempered news of an increase in jobless claims. Nasdaq climbed 21 points to 2782.

On the upside

Clean Diesel Technologies (Nasdaq: CDTI) received orders for nearly $2 million worth of its verified emission reduction products.

Fourth quarter earnings climbed for HHGregg (NYSE: HGG) to surpass analyst expectations by a wide margin as revenue soared.

Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE: EBS) announced that the government intends to order 44.75 million doses of its anthrax vaccine BioThrax.

On the downside

FBR Capital Markets downgraded Lululemon Athletica (Nasdaq: LULU) to an Underperform rating citing possible margin pressures. 

Shares of Brown Shoe Company (NYSE: BWS) continued falling after posting sharply lower first quarter earnings yesterday.

Options trading begins tomorrow for LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) stock.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 5 to 2 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased climbed 10 points to 830.