Employer-Paid

Shares of pharmacy benefits mangers Express Scripts Inc. and Medco Health Solutions Inc. both rose higher than the broader market Tuesday morning, a day after the companies said they now expect their combination to close early in the second quarter.

Shares of drugstore operator and pharmacy benefits manager CVS Caremark Corp. are approaching their full value according to a BMO Capital analyst who lowered his rating on the stock to "market perform" from "outperform."

Ninety-one percent of employers in Californias Silicon Valley say they plan to increase or keep employment levels at the same numbers, according to an economic survey by West Valley Staffing Group.

U.S. employers say they are more optimistic about hiring across all industries and geographies, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released by ManpowerGroup.

Small-business employment grew by .25 percent during Febraury after a 2.75 decrease in January, according to the CBIZ Small Business Employment Index, which measures hiring trends among companies with 300 or fewer employees.

As the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced U.S. employers added more than 227,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate remained steady at 8.3 percent, the U.S. labor market could be gaining steam, according to staffing company Express Employment Professionals.