A strong gain in December factory output lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow climbing 66 points to 12,548. Nasdaq gained 20 points to 2748.
On the upside
Bollinger Report issued a research report on Energy Conversion Devices (Nasdaq: ENER).
Shares of ING (NYSE: ING) continued climbing after reports yesterday that American International Group (NYSE: AIG) was interested in acquiring ING's Asian insurance business.
Mad Money's Jim Cramer ranked Heckmann (NYSE: HEK) a Buy yesterday.
On the downside
UBS downgraded GenOn Energy (NYSE: GEN) to a Sell rating.
Majesco Entertainment (Nasdaq: COOL) blamed higher operating expenses for widening fourth quarter losses and forecast 2012 results below analyst expectations.
Fourth quarter earnings for State Street (NYSE: STT) soared but the results fell far short of analyst expectations.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 4 points to 769.