– National
Stocks ended a quiet session with a moderate gain Wednesday on strong earnings news and a decline in the trade deficit. Wall Street rebounded from Tuesday’s losses after Circuit City Stores Inc. reported its earnings jumped 65 percent. In economic news, America’s trade deficit improved in February, as the imbalance with China dropped to the lowest level in nearly a year.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 40.34, or 0.36 percent, to 11,129.97. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.55, or 0.12 percent, to 1,288.12, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 4.33, or 0.19 percent, to 2,314.68.
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– Local
Among top local movers was California Pizza Kitchen Inc. up 6.2 percent to $33.83 after saying it expects first-quarter earnings to come in ahead of previous projections. Santa Fe Financial Corp. rose 19 percent to $22. HiShear Tech Corp. closed up again up, this time 18 percent, the day after reporting a strong quarter. Sketchers USA Inc., which announced it would join the Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 Index, climbed 8 percent to $24.69. Reinhold Industries Inc. rose 9 percent to $11.07.
Losing ground was Mercury Air Group Inc., down 12.6 percent to $4.15 and DuCommun Inc. fell 5.6 percent to $23.99. KBHome was down 2.4 percent to $65.30 after announcing a second partnership with Martha Stewart . Tarrant Apparel Group, which is suing pop star Jessica Simpson over an endorsement deal, dipped 2.3 percent to $1.26.
