The markets recovered early morning losses to trade flat during the midday with the Dow adding a point to 17,641 as homebuilder sentiment rose. Nasdaq lost 14 points to 4,820.
On the upside
Canaccord Genuity upgraded Advanced Micro Devices (Nasdaq: AMD) from a Hold rating to a Buy rating and lifted its price target from $3.25 to $6.00.
Capricor Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CAPR) reported positive preliminary 12-month data from its DYNAMIC clinical trial of CAP-1002 in patients with advanced heart failure.
Shares of Pulmatrix (Nasdaq: PULM) surged again.
On the downside
Falling crude oil prices weighed down shares of California Resources (NYSE: CRC) and Vanguard Natural Resources (Nasdaq: VNR).
Analysts said that Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) must sell its underperforming assets.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded American Airlines (Nasdaq: AAL) from a Neutral rating to an Underperform rating.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 eased a fraction to 2,070. Bitcoin surged $46 to $727.
