Pending home sales rose 3.5% in February to lift the markets to a higher open with the Dow rising 31 points to 17,547. Nasdaq added 4 points to 4,778.
On the upside
Alder Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALDR) reported positive results from a Phase 2b clinical trial of ALD403 to prevent migraine headaches.
The Food and Drug Administration said that Acadia Pharmaceuticals’ (NYSE: ACAD) Parkinson’s disease hallucination treatment Nuplazid posed substantial safety risk to patients but the stock price rose ahead of a meeting between a panel of outside experts and Acadia representatives tomorrow.
Bargain hunters lifted shares of SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE).
On the downside
Pandora Media (NYSE: P) co-founder Tim Westergren will replace Brian McAndrews as chief executive.
Apricus Biosciences (Nasdaq: APRI) reported disappointing results from a Phase 2b study of fispermifene to treat symptomatic secondary hypogonadism.
Shares of Stone Energy (NYSE: SGY) continued to fall.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a slim margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE while decliners edged out advancers by 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added a point to 2,037. Bitcoin slipped $2 to $421.
