The markets retreated during the midday but remained in positive territory with the Dow gaining 26 points to 12,420 as crude oil prices rose. Nasdaq added 2 points to 2793.
On the upside
General Maritime (NYSE: GMR) secured a $200 million credit facility from Oaktree Capital Management.
Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Rick Schafer upgraded Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM) to an Outperform rating while DA Davidson analyst Aalok Shah upgraded the semiconductor to a Buy rating.
Biolase Technology (Nasdaq: BLTI) lifted its first quarter revenue guidance citing strong demand for its WaterLase iPlus all-tissue laser system.
On the downside
Columbia Laboratories' (Nasdaq: CBRX) and Watson Pharmaceuticals' (NYSE: WPI) Prochieve vaginal gel significantly reduced preterm births in pregnant women with a short cervix.
Charter Equity downgraded Skyworks Solutions (Nasdaq: SWKS) to a Market Underperform rating.
Weak international flight demand weighed down shares of American Airlines parent AMR (NYSE: AMR), Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and United Continental (NYSE: UAL).
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a point to 851.
