The markets opened higher with the Dow climbing 60 points to 17,129 ahead of the Federal Reserve's final policy meeting of the year. Nasdaq gained 17 points to 4,565.
On the upside
Philips offered a premium of approximately $1 billion to acquire Volcano (Nasdaq: VOLC).
Auspex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ASPX) reported positive results from a Phase 3 clinical trial of SD-809 for treating chorea associated with Huntington's disease.
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) extended the terms of its Microsoft Operations Digial Distribution Agreement with Digital River (Nasdaq: DRIV).
On the downside
Credit Suisse slashed its price target on Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) from $10 to $1.
Novogen (Nasdaq: NVGN) announced a private placement of approximately 32.85 million common shares to raise A$4.1 million.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) settled a breach of contract suit that was filed by Tutor Perini (NYSE: TPC).
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 climbed 13 points to 1986. Bitcoin lost $8 to $319.
Higher open ahead of Fed meeting
December 17, 2014 at 09:42 AM EST