Despite a drop in existing home sales, the markets surged to close sharply higher with the Dow jumping 178 points to 12,036 as investors embraced merger and acquisition activity. Nasdaq soared 48 points to 2692.
On the upside
Prana Biotechnology (Nasdaq: PRAN) that its PBT2 repaired damage in Alzheimer's affected brains.
Gleacher & Co. analyst Ian Ing upgraded Atmel (Nasdaq: ATML) to a Buy rating.
Shares of Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) rose after competitor Apollo Global Management filed plans to IPO between $17 to $19 per share.
Sterne Agee analyst Vijay Rakesh upgraded Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) to a Buy rating.
Bargain hunters lifted shares of nuclear energy company Cameco (NYSE: CCJ).
On the downside
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) announced on Friday that it sold 70.6 million common shares and will offer senior unsecured notes to repay the government.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks leaped 18 points 813.
