Unemployment Rate Drops, Markets Soar
A drop in the nation's unemployment rate to a 2 1/2 year low of 8.6% lifted the markets to a sharply higher open with the Dow soaring 101 points to 12,121. Nasdaq climbed 25 points to 2651.
On the upside
Western Digital (Nasdaq: WDC) lifted its December revenue guidance and announced the partial resumption of production at its Thailand facility ahead of schedule.
Shares of Pacific Ethanol (Nasdaq: PEIX) continued climbing after regaining compliance with NASDAQ listing requirements earlier this week.
Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR) stock continued rising after Sprint (NYSE: S) announced yesterday that it will provide Clearwire with $1.6 billion.
On the downside
Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) warned that third quarter revenue will fall short of expectations and full year earnings will miss estimates.
Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE: EEP) priced its offering of 8.5 million common units at $30.85 per unit.
Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) reported sharply lower third quarter earnings that fell short of analyst expectations.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 9 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 8 points to 739.
