Small Gain In Consumer Prices Lifts Markets To Higher Close

February 19, 2010 at 15:40 PM EST

Investors shrugged off the Federal Reserve's interest rate increase to focus instead on a smaller than expected gain in consumer prices. The markets closed modestly higher with the Dow adding 9 points to 10,402 while Nasdaq edged up 2 points to 2243.

On the upside

Bargain hunters snapped up shares of XenoPort (Nasdaq: XNPT), whose stock price dropped yesterday after the Food and Drug Administration failed to approve the company's restless leg syndrome treatment Horizant.

KeyBanc Capital Markets upgraded Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ) to a Buy rating.

Fourth quarter earnings and revenue for Newpark Resources (NYSE: NR) beat analyst expectations.

On the downside

Merit Medical Systems (Nasdaq: MMSI) reported lower fourth quarter earnings.

The Knot (Nasdaq: KNOT) blamed impairment charges for widening fourth quarter losses.

Endologix (Nasdaq: ELGX) reported a loss for the fourth quarter.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 2 points to 631.