Service Sector Expands, Markets Advance

Greater than expected expansion of the nation's service sector lifted the markets higher during the midday with the Dow gaining 39 points to 13,521. Nasdaq climbed 19 points to 3139.
On the upside
The Food and Drug Administration and European Union regulators approved Biolase's (Nasdaq: BIOL) dental laser device Epic 10.
US Airways Group (NYSE: LCC) reported higher September revenue passenger miles and capacity.
Record low mortgage rates along with rising median home prices lifted shares of homebuilders Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH), Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV), Lennar (NYSE: LEN) and KB Home (NYSE: KBH).
On the downside
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) forecast fiscal 2013 results that fell far short of analyst expectations and warned of continued challenges.
Citigroup downgraded Leap Wireless (Nasdaq: LEAP) to a Neutral rating.
Wedbush Securities downgraded Amarin (Nasdaq: AMRN) to a Neutral rating from Outperform.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 7 to 5 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 3 points to 843.
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