By Kiah Haslett
| Shares of pharmaceutical manufacturer Akorn, Inc. were up 12.58 percent to $1.80 in midmorning trading, after investors learned that Akorn received regulatory clearance to market a generic pain drug. Akorn is based in Lake Forest, Ill.

Chemical manufacturer Stepan Company was up 10.18 percent to $68.26 on the release of its record-setting first quarter earnings report, which exceeded analysts’ expectations.