Locals follow markets higher

Health care names among leaders

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

A broad rally in U.S. stocks Monday, spurred by several central banks' plans to prop up credit markets, pushed higher most Nashville-area stocks.

At 12:30 p.m., the best local performers were Delek US Holdings (Ticker: DK), Healthways (Ticker: HWAY) and O'Charley's (Ticker: CHUX). All were up between 12 and 16 percent.

The Dow Jones U.S. Health Care Index was up more than 8 percent around noon, and a good number of Middle Tennessee health care companies were outpacing the broader indices. Among them were hospital companies Community Health Systems (Ticker: CYH) and LifePoint Hospitals (Ticker: LPNT) as well as insurer HealthSpring (Ticker: HS) and biomedical company BioMimetic Therapeutics (Ticker: BMTI).

The central banks' moves gave investors some much-needed confidence and have some calling a market bottom. But others say economic headwinds will severely cap short-term gains.

Despite their gains today, many Nashville stocks still need a long-term view: Almost half of locally based public companies are still trading at least 50 percent below their 52-week highs.