China's impressive trade surplus numbers eased fears of a global economic slowdown to lift the markets higher during the midday with the Dow rising 51 points 12,736. Nasdaq climbed 16 points to 2859.
On the upside
Callon Petroleum (NYSE: CPE) reported higher first quarter earnings as revenue rose.
First quarter earnings climbed for Medifast (NYSE: MED) to top analyst estimates as revenue increased.
Longtop Financial Technologies (NYSE: LFT) denied allegations by OLP Global and Citron Research that the company under contributed to employee benefits and that the company was related to Xiamen Longtop Human Resources Service.
On the downside
Universal Display (Nasdaq: PANL) blamed higher research and development expenses for reporting a wider than expected loss for the first quarter.
InterMune's (Nasdaq: ITMN) largest institutional investor Warburg Pincus may sell some or all of its holdings in the biotech firm.
Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) announced the retirement of president and chief executive officer Ray Elliott effective December 31, 2011.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 8 points to 851.
