The markets closed higher on a shortened Christmas Eve trading day with the Dow climbing 62 points to 16,357. Nasdaq gained 6 points to 4155.
On the upside
Shares of Oramed Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ORMP) continued rising after reporting upbeat trial results last Friday.
Bargain hunters lifted shares of CytRx (Nasdaq: CYTR).
Atossa Genetics (Nasdaq: ATOS) submitted a Premarket 501(k) Notification with the Food and Drug Administration for its ForeCYTE Breast Aspirator.
On the downside
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines approved the membership application for Two Harbors Investment's (NYSE: TWO) subsidiary TH Insurance Holdings but the stock price fell.
Activist investor Bill Ackman wrote another letter accusing Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) of being a pyramid scheme.
Investors locked in profits on YRC Worldwide (Nasdaq: YRCW).
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 rose 5 points to 1833. Bitcoin added $12.20 or 1.76% to $704.00.
