A drop in unemployment claims lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow rising 43
points to 11,656. Nasdaq added 8
points to
2587.
Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN) narrowed third quarter losses more than expected as the company cut expenses.
August same store sales rose 2.5% for Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD).
Shares of Brazilian banks Itau Unibanco (NYSE: ITUB), Banco Bradesco (NYSE: BBD) and Banco Santander (NYSE: BSBR) rose after the country's Monetary Policy Committee lowered its benchmark Selic interest rate.
On the downside
As part of Oxigene's (Nasdaq: OXGN) newly announced restructuring plan, the biopharmaceutical will abandon a Phase 3 registrational study of Zybrestat in patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer and halt a Phase 2 trial of Zybrestat in non-small cell lung cancer patients.
Gap (NYSE: GPS) reported a disappointing 6% drop in August same store sales.
SAIC (NYSE: SAI) reported lower second quarter earnings that fell short of expectations and forecast current quarter result below estimates prompting a downgrade.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 4 points to 730.
