A surge in October retail sales lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow gaining 48 points to 11,241. Nasdaq added 4 points to 2522.
On the upside
Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) will pay approximately $7.6 billion to acquire mining equipment maker Bucyrus International (Nasdaq: BUCY).
EMC (NYSE: EMC) announced that it will pay approximately $2.25 billion to acquire data storagte equipment firm Isilon Systems (Nasdaq: ISLN).
Mediacom Communications (Nasdaq: MCCC) chief executive Rocco Commisso will pay a premium of $8.75 per share in cash to take the company private.
On the downside
Shares of Thoratec (Nasdaq: THOR), maker of the Heartmate II, tumbled after HeartWare International (Nasdaq: HTWR) reported positive results for its implantable heart pump.
Third quarter earnings plunged for RINO International (Nasdaq: RINO) as revenue dropped prompting the company to cut its full year revenue guidance.
Oppenheimer analyst Srinivas Anantha downgraded Akamai (Nasdaq: AKAM) Limelight (Nasdaq: LLNW) citing a potential price war.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 5 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added a point to 720.