The markets closed higher on a shortened trading day with the Dow gaining 56 points to 14,988 as private employers hired more workers. Nasdaq rose 10 points to 3443.
On the upside
EXCO Resources (NYSE: XCO) will pay approximately $1 billion to purchase Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) assets in Texas and Louisiana.
Bloomberg reported that Emulex (NYSE: ELX) retained the services of Goldman Sachs to explore a possible sale of the chipmaker.
A Seeking Alpha contributor expects Glu Mobile (Nasdaq: GLUU) to surpass second quarter expectations as four of its games joined the Top 100 Grossing Chart for China.
On the downside
A delay in the requirement that companies with more than 50 employees must provide health insurance for workers sent shares of staffing services company Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI) down.
Profit taking sank shares of QR Energy (NYSE: QRE).
Immunomedics (Nasdaq: IMMU) reported encouraging results from a Phase Ib study of 90Y clivatuzumab in metastatic pancreatic cancer but the stock price fell.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 2 on the NYSE while advancers edged out decliners by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index added a point to 1615.
