The markets surged in afternoon trading to close sharply higher with the Dow rocketing 255 points to 23,836 as the Senate Republican tax plan moved out of committee for a full vote. Nasdaq gained 33 points to 6,912.
On the upside
The Food and Drug Administration granted Apollo Endosurgery (Nasdaq: APEN) 510k clearance for the OverStitch Sx endoscopic suturing system.
RYB Education (NYSE: RYB) has fired a teacher who has been arrested for abusing children at its Beijing facility and has removed the principal from her position.
Amazon Web Services granted Veritone (Nasdaq: VERI) Machine Learning Competency status.
On the downside
Aratana Therapeutics (Nasdaq: PETX) will offer $35 million of its common stock through a public offering.
Profit taking weighed down shares of Diana Containerships (Nasdaq: DCIX).
Ardmore Shipping (NYSE: ASC) priced its secondary public offering of approximately 5.58 million common shares at the discounted price of $8.19 per share.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 soared 25 points to 2,627. Bitcoin jumped $302 to $9,930.