The markets traded higher during the midday with the Dow climbing 69 points to 12,354 as factory production increased. Nasdaq rose 3 points to 2763.
On the upside
The European Medicines Agency approved Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) and Amylin Pharmaceuticals' (Nasdaq: AMLN) once a week injectable type-2 diabetes treatment Bydureon.
Opexa Therapeutics (Nasdaq: OPXA) reported upbeat results from a clinical trial of its multiple sclerosis treatment Tovaxin on a naive subpopulation of patients.
Under a new strategic agreement, Zhongpin (Nasdaq: HOGS) will receive RMB 10 billion in loans and financial services from China Construction Bank.
On the downside
Cirrus Logic (Nasdaq: CRUS) blamed a production issue for cutting its fourth quarter margin guidance.
Iamgold (NYSE: IAG) will sell its 18.9% stake in the Tarkwa and Damang gold mines in Ghana to Gold Fields for $667 million.
StanCorp Financial Group (Nasdaq: SFG) issued preliminary first quarter results that missed analyst expectations by a wide margin.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 5 points to 832.
