A 0.6% increase in September retail sales lifted the markets to a higher close with the Dow rising 39 points to 18,138. Nasdaq edged up to 5,214.
On the upside
Ruby Tuesday (NYSE: RT) interim chief executive F. Lane Cardwell Jr., chief financial officer Sue Briley and chief marketing officer David Skena all bought shares of company stock.
Shares of Yirendai (NYSE: YRD) extended its gains.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) will not make an offer to acquire Twitter (NYSE: TWTR).
On the downside
Biocept (Nasdaq: BIOC) priced its public offering of common stocks and warrants at the discounted price of $1.10 per unit.
Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted that Ariad Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARIA) increased its leukemia drug to nearly $199,000 per year calling the move unbelievable greed.
Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Bluebird Bio (Nasdaq: BLUE) from a Hold rating to a Sell rating.
In the broad market, advancing issues barely edged out decliners by a slim margin on the NYSE while decliners narrowly outpaced advancers on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 held steady at 2,132. Bitcoin rose $3 to $637.
