A pledge by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke to lower interest rates boosted the markets higher during the midday with the Dow climbing 58 points to 12,793. Nasdaq added 7 points to 2481.

On the upside

Ross Stores (Nasdaq: ROST) cited a strong 3% gain in December same store sales for lifting its fourth quarter outlook above analyst expectations.

Retreating oil prices and an upgrade by UBS lifted shares of Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA).

NCR (NYSE: NCR) raised its 2007 profit guidance due to strong demand.

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On the downside

Electronics for Imaging (Nasdaq: EFII) warned that fourth quarter results will fall short of expectations due to soft demand prompting downgrades.

AmTech Research downgraded Synaptics (Nasdaq: SYNA).

Ikon Office Solutions (NYSE: IKN) blamed weaker than expected sales for lowering its first quarter guidance.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 6 points to 718.