A modest gain in factory orders boosted the Dow 48 points to 11,430. Nasdaq eased a point to 2304.
For-profit education company Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL) reported higher third quarter earnings that surpassed expectations as enrollment rose.
Bargain hunters lifted shares of SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK). Shares of the flash memory chip maker tumbled yesterday after Pacific Crest Securities analyst Kevin Vassily lowered his earnings estimates for both the second quarter as well as the full year.
Increased revenue lifted third quarter earnings for Family Dollar Store (Nasdaq: FDO) to beat estimates prompting the discount store operator to boost it fourth quarter outlook.
On the downside
James River Coal (Nasdaq: JRCC) will pay $40 million in cash and stock to acquire coal reserves and permits from Cheyenne Resources.An analyst downgraded Dollar Thrifty Automotive (NYSE: DTG) after the company warned that full year results will fall short of expectations.
Merrill Lynch downgraded General Motors (NYSE: GM) while Citi Investment Research analyst Itay Michaeli lowered his price target for the automaker.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 10 to 9 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks dropped 5 points to 687.
