Midday Leaders & Laggards: S&P 500

The Standard & Poor's 500 index edged higher at midday, led by Symantec Inc. after the network security provider posted a better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter profit.

The S&P 500 gained 11.38 points to 1,397.10.

Shares of Symantec gained $1.79, or 10.4 percent, to $19.01 after the company said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit was 36 cents per share excluding one-time charges, beating analyst estimates by 2 cents per share. The company also posted fiscal 2008 results and first-quarter guidance ahead of Wall Street estimates.

Shares of financial services provider CIT Group Inc. gained $1.01, or 9.3 percent, to $11.90.

Shares of Centurytel Inc. climbed $2.94, or 9.1 percent, to $35.39 after the regional telecommunications company said its first-quarter earnings rose 14 percent as growth in Internet subscribers nudged revenue higher.

Among the decliners, JDS Uniphase Corp. tumbled $2.37, or 16.6 percent, to $11.94 after the communications equipment maker said it expected its fiscal fourth-quarter sales to miss Wall Street expectations.

Roth Capital Partners analyst Dave Kang downgraded the company to "Hold" from "Buy" following the announcement.

Shares of Apache Corp. slipped $11.28, or 8.4 percent, to $123.40 after the oil and gas company posted a higher first-quarter profit but missed analyst estimates.

Shares of Murphy Oil Inc. lost $6.94, or 7.7 percent, to $83.40, even as the oil and natural gas company posted a higher first-quarter profit driven by higher energy prices.