Upbeat February same store sales reports lifted the markets to a higher close with the Dow rising 28 points to 12,980. Nasdaq climbed 22 points to 2988.

On the upside

Zynga (Nasdaq: ZNGA) introduced a new gaming platform separate from Facebook.

Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the fourth quarter.

Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha reinstated coverage of Fusion-IO (NYSE: FIO) with an Outperform rating.

On the downside

DigitalGlobe (NYSE: DGI) fell to a loss for the fourth quarter that was greater than expected.

FelCor Lodging Trust (NYSE: FCH) stock continued falling after the company reported a fourth quarter loss yesterday and forecast 2012 results below estimates.

MCG Capital (Nasdaq: MCGC) widened fourth quarter losses and announced the elimination of 22 employees and five resignations.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 4 points to 815.