The markets opened higher as investors awaited key economic reports and Thursday's decision on interest rates by the European Central Bank. The Dow rose 31 points to 11,413 while Nasdaq added 5 points to 2310.
Shares of Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) rose on hopes that Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) may make a joint bid with other media companies to acquire the beleaguered Internet portal.
Health insurer UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) agreed to pay $895 million to settle lawsuits over its stock option practices and to take a one-time charge.
Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) announced plans to cut 600 underperforming locations while cutting 12,000 jobs. The coffee retailer also announced up to $348 million in charges related to the closures.
On the downside
Drug maker MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: MBRK) will take a $100 million investment from Equity Group Investments LLC and replace its management team.Aladdin Knowledge Systems (Nasdaq: ALDN) lowered its 2nd quarter outlook. The Israel-based maker of computer security products blamed the weak global economy and unfavorable exchange rates for the expected shortfall.
Shares of Circuit City Stores (NYSE: CC) fell after Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) withdrew its offer to buy the consumer electronics chain.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin
of 6 to 5 on the NYSE, but were even on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000
which tracks small cap stocks slipped a point to 690.
