Reassurances from Goldman Sachs lifted the markets higher during the midday with the Dow soaring 132 points to 13,119 while Nasdaq jumped 40 points to 2624.
On the upside
Rumors that E-Trade (Nasdaq: ETFC) may be sold lifted shares of the online broker.
Shares of GigaMedia (Nasdaq: GIGM) surged ahead of its earnings release tomorrow.
VMware (NYSE: VMW) introduced its second generation VMware Server 2 virtualization software.
On the downside
Despite a surge in sales, Akeena Solar (Nasdaq: AKNS) widened third quarter losses as margins fell.
Pilgrim's Pride (NYSE: PPC) reversed year ago losses to report a profit for the fourth quarter but results missed expectations.
Although WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX) posted strong third quarter profit that more than tripled, the stock price tumbled.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 10 points to 777.
