The nation's service sector expanded last month to lift the markets higher during the midday with the Dow rising 15 points to 16,738. Nasdaq gained 21 points to 4,255.
On the upside
The European Medicines Agency accepted Vanda Pharmaceuticals' (Nasdaq: VNDA) Marketing Authorization Application for Hetlioz to treat non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder.
Odyssey Marine Exploration (Nasdaq: OMEX) said that early recovery results at the SS Central America site off the coast of South Carolina have greatly exceeded expectations.
3D Analytics wrote that China Finance Online (Nasdaq: JRJC) was poised to quadruple.
On the downside
PricewaterhouseCoopers will resign as Annie's (NYSE: BNNY) independent accounting firm.
Cyberonics (Nasdaq: CYBX) reported higher fourth quarter earnings but revenue fell short of analyst expectations and the company forecast 2015 revenue below estimates.
FuelCell Energy's (Nasdaq: FCEL) disappointing results weighed down shares of Ballard Power (Nasdaq: BLDP).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE while advancers edged out decliners by more than 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 rose 4 points to 1928. Bitcoin lost $24.27 or 3.81% to $637.59.
