{"id":335329,"date":"2011-03-24T14:19:42","date_gmt":"2011-03-24T14:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/"},"modified":"2011-03-24T14:19:42","modified_gmt":"2011-03-24T14:19:42","slug":"stocks-edge-higher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/","title":{"rendered":"Stocks edge higher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div readability=\"119.884419263\">    <!-- KEEP --><a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/markets\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png\" alt=\"10chart_ws_index_sp500.top.png\" width=\"475\" height=\"280\" border=\"0\" class=\"cnnstoryImageFull\" \/><\/a><span><b>Click the chart for more market data.<\/b><\/span><span id=\"fb-recommend\"\/><br \/>\n<span>By CNNMoney staff<\/span><span>March 24, 2011: 10:19 AM ET<\/span><!--startclickprintexclude--><br clear=\"all\"\/><\/p>\n<p>NEW YORK\u00a0(CNNMoney) &#8212; U.S. stocks edged higher in early trading Thursday but the gains were tepid as investors remain on edge about Japan&#8217;s recovery and spreading unrest in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>The Dow Jones industrial average (<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/quote\/quote.html?symb=INDU&#038;source=story_quote_link\">INDU<\/a>) gained 25 points, or 0.3%; the S&#038;P 500 index (<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/quote\/quote.html?symb=SPX&#038;source=story_quote_link\">SPX<\/a>) was up 1.9 points, or 0.2%; and the Nasdaq Composite (<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/quote\/quote.html?symb=COMP&#038;source=story_quote_link\">COMP<\/a>) gained 8 points, or 0.3%. <\/p>\n<p>The biggest gainer in the S&#038;P 500 was Red Hat (<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/quote\/quote.html?symb=RHT&#038;source=story_quote_link\">RHT<\/a>), the world&#8217;s largest publisher of Linux software, whose shares surged 16% in early trading, The cloud-computing company reported stellar earnings and raised its forecast. <\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s still a lot of nervousness in the market as geopolitical worries remain at the forefront. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Without being cynical about it, I don&#8217;t think the market really expected this week to produce a gold-plated solution to all of these problems,&#8221; said Philip Isherwood, equities strategist at Evolution Securities.<\/p>\n<p>Investors &#8220;are starting to feel that they can accommodate these problems to an extent,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>European stocks rose in morning trading, shrugging off downbeat reports from Portugal and Spain. Britain&#8217;s FTSE 100 added 1%, the DAX in Germany gained 1.5% and France&#8217;s CAC 40 rose 0.9%.<\/p>\n<p>Portugal&#8217;s Prime Minister, Jose Socrates, resigned early Wednesday after parliament rejected his administration&#8217;s latest proposal for austerity measures, reports said. The plan is aimed at avoiding a bailout.<\/p>\n<p>And ratings agency Moody&#8217;s downgraded its debt ratings of 30 Spanish banks, saying the outlook remains weak.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2011\/03\/23\/markets\/markets_newyork\/index.htm\">U.S. stocks<\/a> finished higher Wednesday, thanks to a late-day advance, as investors shrugged off jitters about turmoil in the Middle East and Japan&#8217;s nuclear issues. The Dow closed 67 points higher, or 0.6%.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/news\/economy\/index.html\"><b>Economy:<\/b><\/a> Before the start of trade, the government reported weekly filings for <a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2011\/03\/24\/news\/economy\/initial_claims\/index.htm\">first-time unemployment benefits<\/a> that were roughly in line with expectations, but stayed below 400,000.<\/p>\n<p>The Commerce Department reported durable goods orders fell 0.9% in February, compared with a 3.6% rise posted in January. Economists were expecting a 1.1% rise in February.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/news\/companies\/\"><b>Companies<\/b><\/a>: Electronics retailer Best Buy (<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/quote\/quote.html?symb=BBY&#038;source=story_quote_link\">BBY<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/magazines\/fortune\/fortune500\/2010\/snapshots\/10034.html?source=story_f500_link\">Fortune 500<\/a>) reported profit and sales that beat forecasts. Shares rose 2%.<\/p>\n<p>Walgreen Co. (<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/quote\/quote.html?symb=WAG&#038;source=story_quote_link\">WAG<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/magazines\/fortune\/fortune500\/2010\/snapshots\/2275.html?source=story_f500_link\">Fortune 500<\/a>) said early Thursday it will buy online retailer Drugstore.com (<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/quote\/quote.html?symb=DSCM&#038;source=story_quote_link\">DSCM<\/a>) for $409 million. Shares of Drugstore.com soared more than 110% on the news. <\/p>\n<p>After the bell, software giant Oracle (<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/quote\/quote.html?symb=ORCL&#038;source=story_quote_link\">ORCL<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/magazines\/fortune\/fortune500\/2010\/snapshots\/3057.html?source=story_f500_link\">Fortune 500<\/a>) and smartphone maker Research in Motion (<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/quote\/quote.html?symb=RIMM&#038;source=story_quote_link\">RIMM<\/a>) will report. Analysts expect RIM to have earned $1.76 a share while Oracle is expected to post a 50-cents-a-share profit.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/world_markets\/europe\/\"><b>World markets:<\/b><\/a> Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite fell less than 0.1%,  the Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed 0.4% higher and Japan&#8217;s Nikkei fell 0.2%.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/currencies\/index.html\"><b>Currencies<\/b><\/a><b> and <a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/commodities\/index.html\">commodities:<\/a><\/b> The dollar lost ground versus the euro, but it gained against the Japanese yen and the British pound.<\/p>\n<p>Oil for May delivery gained 10 cents, or 0.1%, to $105.83 a barrel. <\/p>\n<p>Gold futures for April delivery rose $1.40, or 0.1%, to $1,440.20 an ounce. Gold closed at a record high in the previous session, settling at $1,438 an ounce.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/bonds\/index.html\"><b>Bonds<\/b><\/a><b>:<\/b> The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 3.39% from 3.26% late Wednesday. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2011\/03\/24\/markets\/markets_newyork\/index.htm?section=money_topstories&#038;utm_source=feedburner&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29#TOP\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/0e63013ebug.gif\" alt=\"To top of page\" border=\"0\" width=\"7\" height=\"7\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>First Published: March 24, 2011: 9:57 AM ET<\/p>\n<p><!--endclickprintexclude--><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png-150x150.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Read the rest here:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/rss.cnn.com\/~r\/rss\/money_topstories\/~3\/2uwzw8QN_yE\/index.htm\" title=\"Stocks edge higher\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stocks edge higher<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Click the chart for more market data. By CNNMoney staff March 24, 2011: 10:19 AM ET NEW YORK\u00a0(CNNMoney) &#8212; U.S. stocks edged higher in early trading Thursday but the gains were tepid as investors remain on edge about Japan&#8217;s recovery and spreading unrest in the Middle East. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-335329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Stocks edge higher - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Stocks edge higher - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Click the chart for more market data. By CNNMoney staff March 24, 2011: 10:19 AM ET NEW YORK\u00a0(CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks edged higher in early trading Thursday but the gains were tepid as investors remain on edge about Japan&#039;s recovery and spreading unrest in the Middle East.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Stocks edge higher\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-24T14:19:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/\"},\"wordCount\":522,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/\",\"name\":\"Stocks edge higher - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-24T14:19:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stocks edge higher - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Stocks edge higher - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Click the chart for more market data. By CNNMoney staff March 24, 2011: 10:19 AM ET NEW YORK\u00a0(CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks edged higher in early trading Thursday but the gains were tepid as investors remain on edge about Japan's recovery and spreading unrest in the Middle East.","twitter_image":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Stocks edge higher","datePublished":"2011-03-24T14:19:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/"},"wordCount":522,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/","name":"Stocks edge higher - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png","datePublished":"2011-03-24T14:19:42+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/stocks-edge-higher\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/cd0cb908x_sp500.top_.png.png"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}