Upgrades Lift Markets Higher

The markets closed modestly higher with the Dow rising 36 points to 9820 on this quadruple witching day after analysts upgraded a number of stocks. Nasdaq added 6 points to 2132.

On the upside

SXC Health Solutions (Nasdaq: SXCI) priced its offering of 4.5 million shares of common stock at $41.50 per share.

Morgan Stanley analyst Evan Callo initiated coverage of InterOil (Nasdaq: IOC) with an Overweight rating after the company announced that its Antelope-2 natural gas reservoir may be much larger than originally estimated.

Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) narrowed first quarter losses as the company lowered expenses and expects sales trends to improve ahead of the holiday shopping season.

On the downside

CL King analyst Scott Krasik downgraded Wolverine World Wide (NYSE: WWW) citing recent gains in the stock price.

Collins Stewart downgraded Sunstone Hotel (NYSE: SHO) after the company stopped mortgage payments on a second property and returned the property to the bank.

Eastman Kodak (Nasdaq: EK) expanded its private placement to raise more capital.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 2 points to 617.

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