The markets opened flat with the Dow losing 9 points to 15,238 even as Standard & Poor's upgraded the credit outlook for the U. S. government from Negative to Stable. Nasdaq added 3 points to 3472.
On the upside
Apricus Biosciences (Nasdaq: APRI) received approval for its erectile dysfunction treatment Vitaros through the European Decentralized Procedure.
Shares of Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) continued rising after forecasting first quarter earnings ahead of analyst expectations.
Macquarie upgraded Monsanto (NYSE: MON) from a Neutral rating to an Outperform rating.
On the downside
The Food and Drug Administration requested additional safety data for Dynavax Technologies' (Nasdaq: DVAX) hepatitis B vaccine HEPLISAV.
U. S. International Trade Commission judge David Shaw ruled that Netflix and Roku did not infringe on patents held by Rovi (Nasdaq: ROVI).
Jefferies downgraded Titan International (NYSE: TWI) from a Buy rating to a Hold rating.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index soared 20 points to 1643.
