The markets extended its gains during the midday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recommended another stimulus package to boost the nation's economy. The Dow surged 199 points to 9051 while Nasdaq climbed 20 points to 1731.
On the upside
Melco Crown Entertainment (Nasdaq: MPEL) reassured investors that its City of Dreams casino in Macau will open on time in the first half of 2009.FBR Capital Markets analyst Amir Arif affirmed his Outperform rating for Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) and maintained his $60 price target for the iron ore miner.
Financial services firm ING (NYSE: ING) will receive approximately $13.4 billion from the Dutch government prompting an upgrade.
On the downside
Shares of PMC-Sierra (Nasdaq: PMCS) continued to fall after forecasting fourth quarter results below estimates last week.The Food and Drug Administration requested more information from AMAG Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AMAG) for its anemia drug ferumoxytol.
Veolia Environment (NYSE: VE) blamed the global economic slowdown for lowering its outlook for 2008.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 7 points to 533.
