Investors welcomed an increase in the 10-year Treasury yield as a sign of a strengthening economy. The markets opened higher with the Dow rising 24 points to 16,504 while Nasdaq added 2 points to 4169.
On the upside
WPCS International (Nasdaq: WPCS) subsidiary BTX Trader released a beta version of its Bitcoin trading platform.
Shares of FreeSeas (Nasdaq: FREE) extended its gains.
A Seeking Alpha contributor identified Molycorp (NYSE: MCP) as a top $5 "January Effect" stock pick.
On the downside
Investors locked in profits on Ariad Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARIA).
Macquarie Securities analyst Ben Schacter downgraded Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) from a Neutral rating to an Underperform rating.
Profit taking weighed down shares of Coronado Biosciences (Nasdaq: CNDO).
In the broad market, advancing issues were on par with decliners on the NYSE while advancers outpaced decliners by nearly 5 to 4 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 2 points to 1844.
