A better than expected gain in October retail sales lifted the markets during the midday with the Dow gaining 68 points to 12,147. Nasdaq climbed 28 points to 2685.
On the upside
Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz cited Green Mountain's (Nasdaq: GMCR) relatively low price for recommending the stock.
McMoRan Exploration (NYSE: MMR) discovered additional hydrocarbons at its Lafitte ultra-deep prospect.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC) may be targeted for an acquisition.
On the downside
The Cooper Companies (NYSE: COO) expanded its recall of Avaira Toric contact lenses to include limited lots of Avaira Sphere contact lenses.
Meritor (NYSE: MTOR) reported sharply higher fourth quarter earnings and revenue but revenue fell short of expectations.
Towerstream (Nasdaq: TWER) widened third quarter losses even as revenue climbed.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 9 points to 742.