Stocks News Us: Wall St opens up on Ukraine ceasefire hopes

Autoscope Technologies

03/09/2014 14:48

Sept 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks are trading higher shortly 
after the open on Wednesday as optimism grew that a resolution 
might be reached between Ukraine and Russia. 
    Investors are also looking ahead to data on factory orders 
as well as the Federal Reserve's Beige Book of economic activity 
across the nation.      
    The Dow Jones industrial average  .DJI  is rising 66.66 
points, or 0.39 percent, to 17,134.22, the S&P 500  .SPX  is up 
5.97 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,008.25 and the Nasdaq 
Composite  .IXIC  is adding 10.15 points, or 0.22 percent, to 
4,608.34. 
    The largest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange 
is Blyth  BTH.N , which is up 25.21 percent, while the largest 
percentage decliner is Coupns.com Inc  COUP.K , down 7.19 
percent. 
    At the NYSE, the most active stocks are Bank of America 
 BAC.N , unchanged at $16.22; JPMorgan Chase  JPM.N , up 0.64 
percent to $60.05 and Petroleo Brasil  PBR.N , up 0.24 percent 
to $20.70. 
    On the Nasdaq, the top 3 most active stocks are Image 
Sensing  ISNS.O , up 45.0 percent to $9.67; Microsoft Corp 
 MSFT.O , down 0.7 percent to $44.79 and Apple Inc  AAPL.O , 
down 0.4 percent to $102.90. 
    Advancing issues are outnumbering declining ones on the NYSE 
by 2,068 to 596, for a 3.47-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the 
Nasdaq, 1,436 issues are rising and 699 falling for a 2.05-to-1 
ratio favoring advancers. 
    The broad S&P 500 index is posting 39 new 52-week highs and 
no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite is recording 63 new highs and 
5 new lows.   
     
From earlier in the day:     
08:40- Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc  INFI.O  and Local Corp 
 LOCM.O  are among the biggest premarket movers on Wednesday, 
with both names rallying on heavy volume. 
    Infinity is surging 41 percent to $15.37 after the company 
announced a collaboration with Abbvie  ABBV.N  to develop a 
cancer treatment. If the premarket move holds, it would 
represent one of the biggest one-day advances for the stock 
ever.  ID:nWNAB04NSF  
    Local is up 8.3 percent to $1.82 after it said it reached a 
favorable settlement in patent infringement litigation with 
Fry's Electronics.  
    On the downside, Digital Ally  DGLY.O  is down 5.4 percent 
to $31.59, pulling back after a massive rally of nearly 80 
percent in the previous session.  
    Futures snapshot at 8:33: 
    * S&P 500 e-minis  ESc1  are up 7 points, 0.35 percent, with 
252,457 contracts changing hands. 
    * Nasdaq 100 e-minis  NQc1  are gaining 13 points, 0.32 
percent in volume of 36,284 contracts. 
    * Dow e-minis  1YMc1  are up 69 points, 0.4 percent with 
38,729 contracts changing hands. 
     
07:42-U.S. stock index futures are higher on Wednesday, with 
hopes rising for a possible ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. 
    The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian 
leader Petro Poroshenko had agreed on steps towards peace in 
eastern Ukraine, even though there was no agreement for a 
ceasefire. Such a deal would remove a headwind from the market, 
which has been concerned about the potential fallout to any 
escalation in tensions between the two countries. 
    Toll Brothers Inc  TOL.N  is higher in premarket trading, 
rising 0.9 percent to $35.94 after the luxury homebuilder 
reported a sharply higher profit.  ID:nL3N0R4375  
    Futures snapshot at 7:41: 
    * S&P 500 e-minis  ESc1  are up 6 points, 0.3 percent, with 
225,553 contracts changing hands. 
    * Nasdaq 100 e-minis  NQc1  are gaining 12 points, 0.29 
percent in volume of 32,867 contracts. 
    * Dow e-minis  1YMc1  are up 59 points, 0.35 percent with 
35,280 contracts changing hands. 
 
 (Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica) 
 ((ryan.vlastelica@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +1 646-223-6014; 
Reuters Messaging: 
ryan.vlastelica@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))