A bigger than expected increase for durable goods orders in July lifted the markets to a higher close with the Dow rising 90 points to 11,503. Nasdaq climbed 20 points to 2382.
On the upside
Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) narrowed second quarter losses despite lower revenue as the book retailer restructures.
Shares of Frontier Oil (NYSE: FTO) and Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) climbed as the nation's inventory of crude oil dropped.
Although Chico's FAS (NYSE: CHS) reported sharply lower second quarter earnings, the results surpassed analyst estimates.
On the downside
Stifel Nicolaus analyst David Bishop downgraded BankUnited Financial (Nasdaq: BKUNA) saying that the bank has been unsuccessful in raising capital.
Standard & Poor's downgraded the debt rating of Cott (NYSE: COT) which keeps the Canadian soft drink company on credit watch.
Russia warned that it may lower imports of pork and chicken sending shares of chicken producer Pilgrim's Pride (NYSE: PPC) tumbling.In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks soared 9 points to 733.
