The markets opened sharply higher with the Dow leaping 144 points to 12,849 as a better than expected gain in January jobs pushed the unemployment rate down to a three year low of 8.3%. Nasdaq soared 40 points to 2899.
On the upside
Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) reported higher fourth quarter earnings as revenue climbed to top analyst estimates.
Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) reversed year ago losses to post a better than expected profit for the fourth quarter.
Threshold Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: THLD) and Merck will jointly develop and commercialize Threshold's cancer treatment TH-302.
On the downside
MannKind (Nasdaq: MNKD) priced its public offering of more than 31 million units at $2.40 per unit.
ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE: ARR) announced a public offering of 22 million common shares and priced its public offering of 26 million common shares.
The Food and Drug Administration removed its partial clinical hold on Idenix Pharmaceuticals' (Nasdaq: IDIX) hepatitis C treatment IDX184 but investors were concerned that competitors may develop their drugs first.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 9 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks surged 15 points to 828.
