An upward revision of April housing starts boosted the markets higher during the midday with the Dow soaring 126 points to 12,868. Nasdaq jumped 36 points to 2931.
On the upside
Shares of Galena Biopharm (Nasdaq: GALE) rose ahead of its presentation at the 2012 BIO International Convention tomorrow.
A gain in permits to build new homes lifted shares of building products company Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE: LPX).
A rubber surplus is expected to lower raw material expenses for Goodyear Tire & Rubber (NYSE: GT).
On the downside
Western Gas Partners (NYSE: WES) priced its public offering of 5 million common units at the discounted price of $43.88 per unit.
Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) narrowed fourth quarter losses but Nook e-reader sales fell.
HCP (Nasdaq: HCP) announced a public offering of 7.8 million common shares.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks leaped 13 points to 786.
