Investors lifted the markets to a higher close with the Dow climbing 59 points to 14,673 in anticipation of strong earnings. Nasdaq gained 15 points to 3237.
On the upside
First Solar’s (Nasdaq: FSLR) upbeat outlook lifted shares of LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK), MEMC Electronic Material (NYSE: WFR), SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR), Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) and Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE).
Shares of Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) climbed after Alcoa (NYSE: AA) posted strong earnings.
A Seeking Alpha contributor will host a conference call with a patent expert to discuss Keryx Biopharmaceutical’s (Nasdaq: KERX) Zerenex.
On the downside
A. Schulman (Nasdaq: SHLM) reported higher second quarter earnings but the results fell short of analyst expectations prompting the company to lower its full year outlook.
Affymetrix (Nasdaq: AFFX) reported preliminary first quarter revenue that fell short of analyst expectations.
Tetra Tech (Nasdaq: TTEK) warned of weakness in the second half of 2013 due to economic challenges in Eastern Canada.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 3 on the NYSE while decliners edged out advancers by nearly 5 to 4 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index rose 5 points to 1568.
