Higher open as retail sales edge up

September retail sales edged up to lift the markets to a higher open with the Dow rising 12 points to 17,094. Nasdaq gained 16 points to 4,812.

On the upside

TripAdvisor (Nasdaq: TRIP) partnered with Priceline Group (Nasdaq: PCLN) to list Priceline's available accommodations on TripAdvisor's online booking platform.

Bloomberg reported that SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) was exploring a possible sale of the company.

CASI Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CASI) received orphan drug designation from the European Medicines Agency for ENMD-2076 to treat hepatocellular carcinoma.

On the downside

Cepheid (Nasdaq: CPHD) warned that third quarter results would fall short of expectations and forecast current quarter revenue below estimates.

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SRPT) continued falling.

Colfax (NYSE: CFX) disappointed with sharply lower third quarter earnings that fell short of analyst expectations.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE and by 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 3 points to 2,007. Bitcoin rose $2 to $249.