The markets traded higher during the midday with the Dow climbing 74 points to 16,321 as tensions eased in Ukraine. Nasdaq gained 39 points to 4318.
On the upside
A Seeking Alpha contributor noted that the clinical trial hold on Geron's (Nasdaq: GERN) Imetelstat was temporary.
Soros Fund Management acquired a 9.18% stake in Penn Virginia (NYSE: PVA).
Credit Suisse upgraded 21Vianet Group (Nasdaq: VNET) from a Neutral rating to an Outperform rating.
On the downside
Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) reported a wider than expected loss for the fourth quarter.
Piper Jaffray downgraded KiOR (Nasdaq: KIOR) from an Overweight rating to a Neutral rating.
Oxygen Biotherapeutics (Nasdaq: OXBT) priced its public offering of common stock at the discounted price of $5.60 per share.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 gained 10 points to 1869. Bitcoin slipped $11.15 or 1.80% to $609.14.