A strong increase in consumer confidence lifted the markets higher
during the midday with the Dow rising 18 points to 16,955. Nasdaq
climbed 28 points to 4,397.

On the upside

Japan
regulators approved NeuroMetrix’s (Nasdaq: NURO) NC-stat DPNCheck
wearable device to detect diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Shares of Xunlei (Nasdaq: XNET) surged in its market debut.

Groupon
(Nasdaq: GRPN) stock continued climbing after Piper Jaffray wrote
yesterday that the company’s website deals were increasing.

On the downside

Antares Pharma (Nasdaq: ATRS) president and chief executive officer Paul K. Wotton, Ph.D. resigned.

Profit taking weighed down shares of Atlantic Power (NYSE: AT).

Shares of Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM) continued falling after negative comments from Cowen & Co. yesterday.

In
the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of
more than 2 to 1 the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader
S&P 500 added 3 points to 1966. Bitcoin eased $1.07 or 0.18% to
$584.40.