May retail sales slipped less that analysts expected to lift the markets sharply higher during the midday with the Dow surging 136 points to 12,089. Nasdaq leaped 40 points to 2680.
On the upside
J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) appointed Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) retail executive Ron Johnson to the position of chief executive officer effective November 1, 2011.
Piper Jaffray initiated coverage of NetQin Mobile (NYSE: NQ) with an Overweight rating while Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage with a Buy rating.
Sequans Communications (NYSE: SQNS) partnered with Gemtek to develop a new TD-LTE desktop CPE for the Indian market.
On the downside
Shares of K-V Pharmaceutical (NYSE: KVA) fell ahead of its annual report investor conference call after market close.
CNBC reported that Congress was investigating a smallpox antiviral contract valued at up to $2.8 billion that was awarded to Siga Technologies (Nasdaq: SIGA).
RBC Capital downgraded Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) to an Underperform rating.
