The markets surged to close sharply higher with the Dow leaping 197 points to 10,860 on news that durable goods orders climbed more than expected in August. Nasdaq soared 54 points to 2381.
On the upside
Zale (NYSE: ZLC) extended and amended its contract with Citibank (NYSE: C) to continue providing private label credit cards under the Zales, Zales Outlet and Gordon's brands.
Grubb & Ellis (NYSE: GBE) chief executive Thomas P. D'Arcy will present at The Second Annual JMP Securities Real Estate Brokerage Bonanza next Wednesday, September 29.
Speculation that Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) may acquire MIPS Technologies (Nasdaq: MIPS) lifted shares of the embedded processor firm.
On the downside
Kraton Performance Polymers (Nasdaq: KRA) launched a secondary offering of 8 million shares priced at $26.50 per share.
Singaporean commodity trader Olam International entered preliminary negotiations with French agricultural trading firm Louis Dreyfus Commodites for a possible merger that will compete with Archer-Daniels-Midlands (NYSE: ADM).
Itau Securities downgraded steel products company Gerdau (NYSE: GGB) saying that the markets remain weak in the second half of the year.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks jumped 21 points to 670.
