The markets surged during the midday in anticipation of brisk sales Black Friday. The Dow leaped 121 points to 12,920 while Nasdaq soared 23 points to 2585.
On the upside
E-Trade (Nasdaq: ETFC) gave up some of its earlier gains but continued to trade up over take-over speculation.
Shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) rose in anticipation of brisk sales on Black Friday.
J. P. Morgan's (NYSE: JPM) JPMorgan Asset Management Infrastructure Investments and Colonial First State Global Asset Management of Commonwealth Bank of Australia purchased United Utilities' electricity distribution assets.
On the downside
Shares of McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) continued to fall over concerns that the housing slump will adversely affect advertising revenue.
Although City Telecom (Nasdaq: CTEL) reversed year ago losses to report a profit for fiscal 2007 as margins expanded and subscriptions increased, the stock price fell.
SatCon Technology (Nasdaq: SATC) reported a loss for the quarter.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 8 points to 748.
