A drop in jobless claims lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow rising 10 points to 10,070. Nasdaq added 4 points to 2145.
On the upside
A federal judge denied Sanofi-Aventis' request to suspend and withdraw approval for the generic version of Sanofi-Aventis' blood thinner Lovenox marketed by Sandoz and Momenta (Nasdaq: MNTA).
Huntsman (NYSE: HUN) was listed as the fourth highest-yielding dividend chemical stock by Motley Fool.
Shares of Somaxon (Nasdaq: SOMX) continued climbing after announcing a co-promotion agreement with Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) yesterday to market the company's insomnia drug Silenor.
On the downside
Superconductor Technologies (NYSE: SCON) priced its offering of 4 million common shares at $1.50 per share.
Guess (NYSE: GES) reported higher second quarter earnings but the apparel company lowered its full year outlook.
GigaMedia (Nasdaq: GIGM) disappointed with an unexpected loss for the second quarter.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 5 points to 610.
