Markets Rebound As Economic Indicators Index Jumps

The markets rebounded in afternoon trading to close higher with the Dow climbing 73 points to 11,092 as investors focused on a sharper than expected jump in the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators. Nasdaq eased a point to 2480.

On the upside

Cadence Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CADX) will submit an approval request to the Food and Drug Administration for its pain and fever medication Ofirmev.

VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System selected Health Net (NYSE: HNT) to continue providing health care services to veterans at the outpatient clinic in Henderson, NV.

Daimler (NYSE: DAI) reported strong first quarter results that beat analyst expectations.

On the downside

Seacoast Banking (Nasdaq: SBCF) returned $200 million in subscriptions for the company's Series C Manditorily Convertible Preferred Stock.

Doral Financial (NYSE: DRL) announced plans to raise $600 million through private equity placements prompting Standard & Poor's Ratings Services to downgrade the bank.

RBC Capital Markets downgraded Esco Technologies (NYSE: ESE).

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 4 to 3 on the NYSE and by 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped 3 points to 711.