The markets advanced during the midday with the Dow rising 18 points to 15,123 as investors welcomed a drop in first time applications for unemployment benefits. Nasdaq gained 9 points to 3423.
On the upside
Shares of Affymax (Nasdaq: AFFY) continued rising after a Seeking Alpha contributor expressed confidence that the biopharmaceutical would successfully address safety concerns of its anemia drug Omontys.
Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) reported a profit for the very first time to surpass analyst expectations by a wide margin. Also, Consumer Reports rated the Model S a near perfect score of 99 out of 100
Ctrip.com International (Nasdaq: CTRP) reported lower first quarter earnings but the results were better than expected.
On the downside
McDermott (NYSE: MDR) disappointed with sharply lower first quarter earnings that fell short of analyst expectations.
Pizza Inn (Nasdaq:PZZI) fell to a loss for the third quarter as revenue slipped.
SS&C Technologies (Nasdaq: SSNC) priced its public secondary offering of 7.5 million common shares at the discounted price of $32.20 per share.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 10 to 9 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index held steady at 1632.
