A drop in credit card delinquencies lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow climbing 75 points to 9819. Nasdaq gained 18 points to 2112.
On the upside
Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) qualified Netlist's (Nasdaq: NLST) NetVault NV to support RAID storage applications on PowerEdged servers and PowerVault Direct Attached Storage solutions.
Zanett (Nasdaq: ZANE) reported record signed contracts in the second quarter of more than $20.6 million in new business.
State Street (NYSE: STT) expects second quarter earnings to beat analyst estimates.
On the downside
A jury ruled that Skilled Healthcare Group (NYSE: SKH) must pay $671 million in damages for failing to profide adequate staffing at its facilities.
Affymetrix (Nasdaq: AFFX) blamed delayed purchases, reduced corporate spending and a weak euro for lowering its second quarter outlook.
GlaxoSmithKline's (NYSE: GSK) and Xenoport's (Nasdaq: XNPT) migraine treatment failed a midstage clinical trial.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased gained 6 points to 596.
