Wall Street was higher in early afternoon trade Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.36 percent higher to 13,413.01.
The Nasdaq Composite had added 0.62 percent to 2,569.81, while the S&P 500 was up 0.21 percent to 1,468.94.
In the media sector Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIAb), which owns MTV
and Nickelodeon cable channels and Paramount Pictures, added 1.8 percent to $38.69 on a quarterly report that was better than had been anticipated.
Pharmacy chain CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) also issued a better than expected report and gained 3.6 percent to $45.54.
Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) gained 1.1 percent to $29.61 on the announcement that is renewed a font licensing agreement with Apple (NAS: AAPL; LSE: ACP; FWB: APC), which was 0.16 percent higher to $135.21.
In mergers and acquisitions news, Fiserv Inc (NAS: FISV) added 0.5 percent to $49.41 on the news that it will purchase electronic payment company CheckFree Corp (NAS: CKFR), which was 24 percent higher to $45.54.
Banks were slightly higher, with Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) adding 0.15 percent to $47.70 and Citigroup (NYSE: C) gaining 0.71 percent to $46.64.
But Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co (NAS: LEND) dropped nearly 40 percent to $4.97 after the subprime lender said it might not be able to stay in business.