Upbeat housing data sent the markets soaring during the midday with the Dow surging 153 points to 17,678. Nasdaq climbed 45 points to 5,041.
On the upside
The Food and Drug Administration provided positive feedback to Acasti Pharma (Nasdaq: ACST) for its CaPre development pathway.
The Food and Drug Administration lifted the clinical hold on three Investigational New Drug applications submitted by Advaxis (Nasdaq: ADXS).
Platform Specialty Products (NYSE: PAH) named of Rakesh Sachdev to the position of chief executive.
On the downside
California Resources (NYSE: CRC) expects total average production for 2015 to edge up barely 1%.
Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) delayed making an interest payment that was due yesterday.
Shares of Kennametal (NYSE: KMT) extended its losses.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 soared 20 points to 2,063. Bitcoin lost $8 to $451.