The Santa Claus rally lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow climbing 33 points to 16,327 even as retail sales dropped in the final week of shopping before Christmas. Nasdaq added 2 points to 4151.
On the upside
The Food and Drug Administration approved the pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment Orenitram that Supernus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SUPN) developed with United Therapeutics (Nasdaq: UTHR).
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reaffirmed the 5-star rating for Tesla's (Nasdaq: TSLA) Model S sedan for 2014.
DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS) announced yesterday that its subsidiary Ocean Rig took delivery of its sixth newbuilding drillship.
On the downside
CalAmp (Nasdaq: CAMP) reported flat third quarter earnings and forecast current quarter results below expectations prompting a downgrade.
Canaccord lifted its price target on 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) from $85 to $95 but the stock price dropped.
B. Riley downgraded Glu Mobile (Nasdaq: GLUU) from a Buy rating to a Neutral rating.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 2 points to 1830. Bitcoin eased $1.68 or 0.24% to $690.12.