Strong auto sales lifted the markets during the midday with the Dow rising 32 points to 18,067. Nasdaq gained 11 points to 5,094.
On the upside
Zions Bancorp (Nasdaq: ZION) will restructure in order to improve profitability metrics prompting upgrades.
Halcon Resources (NYSE: HK) chief executive Floyd Wilson purchased one million shares of company stock.
Bloomberg reported that AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) would consider acquiring a pharmaceutical company similar to Juno Therapeutics (Nasdaq: JUNO).
On the downside
Shares of Puma Biotechnology (NYSE: PBYI) continued falling.
Regulus Therapeutics (Nasdaq: RGLS) president and chief executive Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos has resigned.
Jeffries downgraded Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) from a Hold rating to an Underperform rating and cut its price target from $33 to $29.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 3 points to 2115. Bitcoin rose $2 to $225.
Strong auto sales lift markets
June 02, 2015 at 14:38 PM EDT