An extension of tax cuts and unemployment benefits lifted the markets higher during the midday with the Dow rising 55 to 11,418. Nasdaq gained 17 points to 2612.
On the upside
AGL Resources will pay approximately $2.38 billion in cash and stock to acquire Nicor (NYSE: GAS).
Dealmap, a source for sharing and finding local deals, announced a new DealExchange partnership with media advertising and print directory company SuperMedia (Nasdaq: SPMD).
Third quarter earnings for Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY) more than doubled to beat analyst expectations.
On the downside
Wintrust Financial (Nasdaq: WTFC) priced its offering of approximately 3.2 million common shares at $30.00 per share and 4 million tangible equity units at $50.00 per unit.
Qiao Xing Universal Resources (Nasdaq: XING) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the third quarter but revenue dropped.
Avago Technologies (Nasdaq: AVGO) announced an offering of 25 million shares by eight different shareholders.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 9 points to 765
