New home sales climbed last month to lift the markets to a higher open with the Dow gaining 59 points to 10,484. Nasdaq rose 10 points to 2280.
On the upside
Onyx Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ONXX) reported positive results from a Phase 2b clinical trial of its multiple myeloma treatment carfilzomib.
Barclays Capital analyst Vishal Shah upgraded A123 Systems (Nasdaq: AONE) and lifted his price target on the company to $16 from $14.
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) raised its earnings guidance for the first quarter as well as the full year.
On the downside
Goldman Sachs added Chico's FAS (NYSE: CHS) to its conviction sell list.
Second quarter earnings for FMC Technologies (NYSE: FTI) dropped as revenue fell.
Shares of LM Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC) continued to fall after reporting last week that second quarter earnings missed estimates.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 5 points to 656.
