The markets staged a mid-day rally due to signs that the service sector may be expanding again. The Dow rose 85 points to 12,488 while Nasdaq surged 33 points to 2514.
On the upside
Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) signed a multi-year deal to become Wal-Mart's (NYSE: WMT) primary marketing and sales channel for display and video advertising.Shares of Sequenom (Nasdaq: SQNM) surged after the drug research firm reported that a prenatal test used to detect Down syndrome produced no false positives.
Analysts noted that a weak dollar and a roster of fuel efficient cars may drive import sales. Shares of Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Honda Motors (NYSE: HMC) spiked.
On the downside
Shares of Indevus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IDEV) tumbled after the FDA delayed approval of the company's injectable testosterone drug candidate due to safety concerns.Shares of Cogent Communications (Nasdaq: CCOI) fell to a new 52-week low on no specific news.
Analysts expected the latest industry report on oil stockpiles to show growth of 2.7 million barrels last week. Shares of Western Refining (NYSE: WNR) lost ground.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin
of 6 to 5 on the NYSE and by nearly 4 to 3 on Nasdaq. The
Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 5 points to 744.
