The markets extended its gains during the midday with the Dow soaring 129 points to 15,309 as investors remained hopeful that the Federal Reserve would maintain its bond buying program. Nasdaq climbed 29 points to 3481.

On the upside

A Seeking Alpha article said that Infinity Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: INFI) had promising leukemia treatments and was a good prospect.

Mechel (NYSE: MTL) announced a plans to repurchase up to $100 million of company stock. 

Reuters reported that Siemens (NYSE: SI) approached several private equity firms to purchase its stake in its Nokia Siemens Networks joint venture with Nokia (NYSE: NOK).

On the downside

Investors locked in profits on Kandi Technologies (Nasdaq: KNDI).

GenMark (Nasdaq: GNMK) cut its revenue outlook for the full year.

Hormel (NYSE: HRL) blamed higher meat expenses and soft sales for lowering its full year earnings guidance.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index climbed 11 points to 1651.