On the upside
PMI Group (NYSE: PMI) will sell its Australian mortgage insurance subsidiary for approximately $920 million to Australia's QBE Insurance Group.
Strong international growth lifted fourth quarter earnings for Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL) to top estimates. The cosmetics maker expects international sales to continue expanding.
Invesco (NYSE: IVZ) will replace IAC/InterActive (Nasdaq: IACI) on the S&P 500 after market close on August 20. IAC will split into four separate companies.
On the downside
Second quarter earnings for Flower Foods (NYSE: FLO) rose due to improved prices and greater volume but the results fell short of estimates.
Despite higher revenue, Spreadtrum Communications (Nasdaq: SPRD) reported lower second quarter earnings that missed expectations prompting the technology company to cut its guidance for the current quarter.
Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Peter Lisnic downgraded LSI Industries (Nasdaq: LYTS) after the lighting company cut its full year guidance.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 6 points to 754.
