Better than expected economic growth in the second quarter lifted the markets higher during the midday with the Dow leaping 182 points to 11,685. Nasdaq surged 21 points to 2403.
On the upside
Third quarter earnings for Origin Agritech (Nasdaq: SEED) surged as higher prices lifted revenue.
Bond insurer MBIA (NYSE: MBI) will receive $741 million in premiums as part of an agreement to take over $184 billion in municipal bonds that are now guaranteed by privately held Financial Guaranty Insurance Corporation.
Although Zale (NYSE: ZLC) swung to a fourth quarter loss, revenue rose to surpass estimates and the specialty retailer of fine jewelry forecast fiscal 2009 results above expectations.
On the downside
FuelCell Energy (Nasdaq: FCEL) blamed higher production costs for widening third quarter losses.
Second quarter earnings dropped for Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) due to the weak economy prompting the specialty home products retailer to cut its full year outlook.
GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) will pay Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) $125 million as part of an agreement to jointly develop the epilepsy drug retigabine as well as other epilepsy treatments.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 4 points to 737.
