New home sales soared 12.4% in July to boost the markets to a higher open with the Dow climbing 70 points to 18,600. Nasdaq gained 27 points to 5,271.
On the upside
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) reported higher second quarter earnings and revenue that topped analyst estimates.
Tableau Software (NYSE: DATA) appointed former Amazon Web Services executive Adam Selipsky as its new chief executive and partnered with Narrative Sciences to offer Narratives for Tableau.
A Seeking Alpha contributor wrote that Amedica (Nasdaq: AMDA) received FDA clearance for its 510k medical device.
On the downside
Sophiris Bio (Nasdaq: SPHS) priced its public offering of 6.5 million common shares and warrants at the discounted price of $4.00 per share and warrant.
Second quarter revenue for Zoe's Kitchen (NYSE: ZOES) fell short of expectations prompting the fast casual restaurant chain to lower its full year forecast.
J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM) reported a greater than expected drop in second quarter revenue.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 gained 9 points to 2,192. Bitcoin slipped $1 to $583.