Although the Bank for International Settlements warned of a prolonged downturn in the global economy, the markets traded mixed during the midday as oil prices eased. The Dow gained 26 points to 11,372 while Nasdaq fell 14 points to 2301.
The Food and Drug Administration issued Indevus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IDEV) an approval letter for its male hypogonadism treatment NEBIDO.
Robbins & Myers (NYSE: RBN) reported impressive third quarter earnings that surpassed expectations and lifted its full year guidance.
Petrohawk Energy (NYSE: HK) announced that its Haynesville Shale horizontal well is producing 16.8 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
On the downside
Concerns that Shuffle Master's (Nasdaq: SHFL) secondary stock offering to raise approximately $86.3 million will dilute earnings more than expected sent shares of the gaming equipment maker tumbling.Russell Investments moved Ambac Financial Group (NYSE: ABK) and PMI Group (NYSE: PMI) from the Russell 1000 index to the small cap Russell 2000.
First BanCorp (NYSE: FBP) announced that the cease and desist order issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been lifted.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a very narrow margin on the NYSE and by margin of more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped a fraction to 698.
