Markets Advance Despite Drop In Consumer Sentiment

July 15, 2011 at 14:05 PM EDT

The markets advanced during the midday with the Dow rising 7 points to 12,444 even as consumer sentiment tumbled to its lowest level in more than two years. Nasdaq gained 20 points to 2782.

On the upside

AgFeed Industries (Nasdaq: FEED) signed nonbinding letters of intent to acquire Pine Ridge Farms and Kansas City Sausage company.

JPMorgan analyst Mark Lear said that Brigham Exploration (Nasdaq: BEXP) and Range Resources (NYSE: RRC) may be targeted for acquisition after BHP offered $12.1 billion for Petrohawk Energy (NYSE: HK).

MicroStockProfit.com issued a research report on Sino Clean Energy (Nasdaq: SCEI).

On the downside

The New York Stock Exchange notified Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE) that its 30-trading-day average stock price fell below the minimum standard of $1.00 per share and that the stock may be delisted unless the company regained compliance.

Delcath Systems (Nasdaq: DCTH) will raise capital through the sale of 5 million common shares.

Jefferies downgraded Qlik Technologies (Nasdaq: QLIK) to a Hold rating.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 2 points to 825.