The major benchmarks all moved higher Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite producing the biggest gains. The growing devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Harvey still dominated the news. The White House announced that it would tap the U.S. emergency oil reserves, as the U.S. oil industry had lost nearly 20% of its production capacity due to the storm. News from individual companies led to some big moves higher. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited(NYSE:TEVA), Shoe Carnival, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCVL), and Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) were among the best performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so well.

Teva's drug gets another indication

Shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries gained 2.5% in response to an expanded approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The maker of generic and brand-name pharmaceuticals announced approval for its drug Austedo to treat movement disorders associated with tardive dyskinesia, which augments an earlier approval for chorea associated with Huntington's disease. Both disorders are characterized by uncontrolled, often debilitating repetitive movements.

Chief Science Officer Michael Hayden focused on the flexible dosing regimen of the drug, stating, "We believe physicians treating tardive dyskinesia will appreciate the therapy's dosing flexibility and the ability to focus on directly treating the movement disorder and not disrupt the ongoing treatment for the underlying condition."

The additional indication will add an additional 500,000 patients to the pool of potential users of the drug, giving investors reason to bid the stock up today.

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

Shoe Carnival bucks the trend

Shoe Carnival stock exploded 27.9% higher before settling for a 22.4% gain after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Net sales of $235.1 million increased 1.4% from the year-ago period, bolstered by a comparable-store sales increase of 0.4%. Earnings per share of $0.24 were 9.1% higher than the prior-year quarter and 20% higher than analysts' consensus estimate.

President and CEO Cliff Sifford pointed to improved sales and cost-cutting measures: "We are pleased with the quarterly improvement in our sales trend, particularly given this year's later back-to-school dates in certain markets, which shifted sales from July into August. Our quarterly earnings were driven by the increase in sales along with our ability to efficiently manage our expenses."

Investors cheered the quarter, as it was in stark contrast to recent disastrous results exhibited by other shoe retailers.