Although Fed chief Ben Bernanke warned of a possible recession, the markets traded higher during the midday with the Dow gaining 20 points to 12,675. Nasdaq climbed 15 points to 2378.
On the upside
Although fourth quarter earnings fell for CarMax (
NYSE: KMX) as new vehicle sales dropped, revenue rose to surpass estimates.
Shares of Solarfun Power Holdings (
Nasdaq: SOLF) rose as a solar power conference convened in Munich, Germany.
Packeteer (
Nasdaq: PKTR) rejected Eliott Associates' unsolicited bid to acquire the company prompting an upgrade.
On the downsideSuperior Offshore International (
Nasdaq: DEEP) delayed filing its annual report, warned that the company is experiencing a severe cash shortfall and is exploring the possible sale of the company.
Shares of The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (
NYSE: BK) tumbled after Friedman, Billings, Ramsey analyst Paul Miller warned that banks must raise capital quickly or be subject to regulatory review.
After an internal review, VeriFone Holdings (
NYSE: PAY) revealed that earnings for the first nine months of fiscal 2007 were greatly overstated and announced the resignation of chief fnancial officer Barry Zwarenstein.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 3 points to 714.