A cease fire in Libya eased fears of tight oil supplies to lift the markets to a higher close with the Dow climbing 83 points to 11,858. Nasdaq rose 7 points to 2643.
On the upside
Chief executive Jonnie Williams of Star Scientific (Nasdaq: CIGX) purchased 500,000 shares of company stock earlier this month.
Coffee Holding (Nasdaq: JVA) reported sharply higher quarterly earnings yesterday as revenue rose.
Longtop Financial Technologies (NYSE: LFT) announced a $50 million stock repurchase plan.
On the downside
Two U. S. Senators urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate KV Pharmaceutical (NYSE: KVA) for price gouging and anti-competitive behavior related to the pricing of its pre-term labor prevention treatment Makena.
Polypore International (NYSE: PPO) priced its secondary offering of 4.5 million common shares at the discounted price of $52.75 per share.
The Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed Duoyuan Printing (NYSE: DYP) for documents related to the dismissal of its external auditor last year.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 9 points 794.