The markets opened higher with the Dow climbing 72 points to 26,282 despite a greater than expected drop in December existing home sales. Nasdaq gained 14 points to 7474.
On the upside
McDermott (NYSE: MDR) lifted its full year forecast.
Shares of The Medicines Company (Nasdaq: MDCO) climbed for the third day in a row.
Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) reported higher second quarter earnings.
On the downside
The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use voted against Puma Biotechnology's (Nasdaq: PBYI) Marketing Authorization Application for neratinib to treat early stage HER2-positive breast cancer.
Fourth quarter earnings for RPC (NYSE: RES) fell short of analyst expectations.
United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL) will increase capacity by 4 to 6 percent.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 3 to 32 on the NYSE and by nearly 4 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 rose 6 points to 2,845. Bitcoin soared $245 to $11,295.
