The markets closed higher with the Dow gaining 50 points to 14,447 as investors barely felt the impact of mandatory federal budget cuts that began this month. Nasdaq rose 8 points to 3252.

On the upside

A Seeking Alpha contributor expects China Auto Logistics (Nasdaq: CALI) to soar in March.

Shares of MannKind (Nasdaq: MNKD) continued rising after a Seeking Alpha contributor wrote last week that the biopharmaceutical had the potential to be the best performing stock of the year.

Tetra Technologies (NYSE: TTI) chief financial officer Elijio V. Serrano purchased 11,000 shares of company stock.

On the downside

Profit taking sank shares of BRF - Brasil Foods (NYSE: BRFS).

Concerns that the European Commission may impose retroactive duties on solar products from China sank shares of LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) and Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE).

Endeavour International (NYSE: END) announced the unregistered sale of equity securities.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index rose 5 points to 1556.