The markets advanced during the midday with the Dow gaining 35 points to 13,205 as retail sales climbed last month. Nasdaq rose 8 points to 3030. On the upside
Nationstar Mortgage (NYSE: NSM) reported sharply higher second quarter earnings and revenue. A Seeking Alpha contributor listed three reasons for naming Ascent Solar Technologies (Nasdaq: ASTI) as the best solar speculation stock. Pluristem (Nasdaq: PSTI) selected Cato Research to conduct its Phase II trial in intermittant claudication in Germany. On the downside Envivio (Nasdaq: ENVI) cut its revenue guidance for the second quarter.Lone Pine Resources (NYSE: LPR) fell to a second quarter loss. MarketWest Energy (NYSE: MWE) priced its public offering of 6 million common units at the discounted price of $50.72 per unit. In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 2 points to 801.