The blue chips have eased back a bit in recent trade, but in general they are still up with modest gains this morning.
Health care stocks and consumer discretionary stocks are this morning's top performers. Both of the two sectors are up 0.6%. Harley-Davidson (HOG 37.84, +0.58), which announced early this morning that it will increase its quarterly dividend by 25% to $0.125 per share, is a primary leader among consumer discretionary plays. Cephalon (CEPH 80.96, +3.94) is a leader among health care issues following news that it will be acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA 47.09, +1.36) for $81.50 per share, which is a premium of almost 6% over its closing price from last week.