Upbeat earnings along with a drop in jobless claims sent the markets soaring to a sharply higher close with the Dow rocketing 217 points to 17,141. Nasdaq leaped 87 points to 4,870.
On the upside
An existing shareholder of Affimed (Nasdaq: AFMD) increased its holdings by 3.3 million common shares.
Dyax (Nasdaq: DYAX) was added to the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index.
Bloomberg reported that Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS) will sell assets in order to win approval of its proposed acquisition of Office Depot (Nasdaq: ODP).
On the downside
Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) reported lower third quarter earnings as the company added fewer U.S. streaming customers than expected.
Koppers Holdings (NYSE: KOP) will release third quarter earnings before market open on Thursday, November 5.
Shares of Renewable Energy Group (Nasdaq: REGI) extended its losses.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 leaped 29 points to 2,023. Bitcoin added $2 to $254.
Jobless claims drop to 40-year low, markets soar
October 15, 2015 at 17:54 PM EDT
