An increase in consumer spending and incomes boosted the markets to a sharply higher open with the Dow surging 119 points to 16,383. Nasdaq soared 44 points to 4195.
On the upside
Idera Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IDRA) reported positive results from a Phase 2 trial of its psoriasis treatment IMO-8400.
Restoration Hardware (NYSE: RH) reported higher fourth quarter earnings as revenue rose.
BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) fell to a loss for the fourth quarter but the results were better than expected.
On the downside
Endocyte (Nasdaq: ECYT) priced its public offering of 4.5 million common shares at the discounted price of $21 per share.
Caesars Entertainment (NYSE: CZR) will offer 7 million shares of common stock.
Exterran Partners (Nasdaq: EXLP) priced its public offering of 5.4 million common units at the discounted price of $28.36 per common unit.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 climbed 15 points to 1864. Bitcoin added $5.04 or 1.00%% to $510.92.
