The markets extended its gains during the midday with the Dow leaping 134 points to 11,162 after Ireland released details of its four-year austerity plan. Nasdaq surged 46 points to 2541.
On the upside
A drop in jobless claims lifted shares of online employment solutions firm Monster Worldwide (NYSE: MWW).
Citigroup lifted its target price on Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) to $21.
Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) announced a $56 million expansion of its memory chip manufacturing plant in Manassas, Virginia that will create 123 more jobs.
On the downside
Investors locked in profits on Astrotech (Nasdaq: ASTC), whose shares surged yesterday on its $35 million NASA contract win.
Shares of Aastrom Biosciences (Nasdaq: ASTM) continued falling after reporting disappointing clinical trial results last week.
Zale (Nasdaq: ZLC) reported a wider than expected loss for the first quarter yesterday.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 9 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks soared 14 points to 734.
