First time applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a more than three and a half year low to lift the markets higher during the midday with the Dow gaining 41 points to 12,149. Nasdaq climbed 16 points to 2594.
On the upside
WCA Waste (Nasdaq: WCAA) agreed to be acquired by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners II.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long upgraded Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) to an Outperform rating and lifted his price target from $22 to $25.
A Seeking Alpha contributor wrote that Citigroup (NYSE: C) was more undervalued than Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).
On the downside
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) pulled Mead Johnson's (NYSE: MJN) Enfamil infant formula from its stores after an infant died.
Alaska Communications (Nasdaq: ALSK) slashed its quarterly dividend.
Standard & Poor's downgraded PHH's (NYSE: PHH) long-term issuer credit rating to BB-.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which
