On The Fly: Top stock stories at midday

Stocks spent the morning in a virtual holding pattern, trading in a narrow range just below the flat line. The Nasdaq and S&P have moved to their best levels of the day near noon, while the Dow remains virtually unchanged from where it closed yesterday. Volatility may be expected near and after the close given that today will see the rebalancing of the Russell index. Oil prices have taken their cue from equities as they have been drifting but have turned a bit higher as well. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., Markit's flash composite PMI for June came in at 53.0, down from 53.6 in May. New home sales rose 2.9% to a 610,000 home rate in May following big upward revisions in the prior three months that made for a strong report. Baker Hughes will issue its U.S. rig count, which is typically is viewed as a proxy for activity in the sector, at 1 pm ET. In Europe, the flash manufacturing PMI came in better than expected at 57.3, but services fell short of the consensus forecast with a reading of 55.7. In Asia, Japan's manufacturing flash PMI for June fell to 52 from 53.1 in May. COMPANY NEWS: Last night, the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System released results of its supervisory bank stress tests, finding that all 34 participating bank holding companies exceed the minimum requirements in the hypothetical stress scenario. Several of the biggest financial institutions that participated include Bank of America (BAC), Citi (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Wells Fargo (WFC), though the bigger news for those mega-cap banks will be next week's Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, or CCAR, announcements, which will determine how they can increase dividends and buy back stock. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR), which jumped 36% after it received an indication of interest from Siris Capital Group to acquire the company for $18.00 per share in cash. Also higher were AK Steel (AKS) and U.S. Steel (X), which gained 5.5% and 4.5%, respectively, after both stocks were upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank this morning. Among the noteworthy losers was Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), which dropped 11% after the company reported weaker than expected Q1 results. Also lower was BlackBerry (BBRY), which fell 11% after reporting quarterly revenues and gross margins that were below the consensus forecast. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 12.38, or 0.06%, to 21,409.67, the Nasdaq was up 16.64, or 0.27%, to 6,253.32, and the S&P 500 was up 4.53, or 0.19%, to 2,439.03.