The markets advanced during the midday with the Dow rising 51 points to 12,119 after the Italian Parliament approved budget reforms. Nasdaq gained 18 points to 2714.
On the upside
Republic Airways (Nasdaq: RJET) confirmed its order to purchase 80 Airbus aircraft.
Rackspace (NYSE: RAX) reported sharply higher third quarter earnings as revenue soared prompting an upgrade.
Standard & Poor's will replace Varian Semiconductor (Nasdaq: VSEA), which is being acquired by Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT), with Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG) on its S&P MidCap 400 Index.
On the downside
Robert W. Baird downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VRTX) to a Neutral rating.
Exide Technologies (Nasdaq: XIDE) disappointed by slipping to a loss for the second quarter.
Second quarter earnings slipped for GT Advanced Technologies (Nasdaq: GTAT) and the company forecast disappointing current quarter results.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 2 points to 747.
