New global banking regulations renewed confidence in European banks to lift the markets during the midday with the Dow rising 52 points to 10,514. Nasdaq climbed 34 points to 2276.
On the upside
The Food and Drug Administration and Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CYCC) agreed on the design of a late stage clinical trial for the biopharmaceutical's acute myeloid leukemia treatment sapacitabine oral capsules.
Entropic Communications (Nasdaq: ENTR) lifted its revenue guidance for the third quarter citing increased demand.
Otix Global (Nasdaq: OTIX) accepted a $50 million cash acquistion offer from rival hearing aid manufacturer William Demant.
On the downside
Barclays lowered its price target on Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) to $6 from $8 citing lower hospital utilization rates.
Sanford Bernstein analyst Rod Bourgeois downgraded Visa (NYSE: V) and slashed his price target from $93 to $77 saying that debit card reform will negatively impact revenue.
Laboratory Corp. of America (NYSE: LH) will pay approximately $925 million in cash to acquire the genetics testing unit of Genzyme (Nasdaq: GENZ).
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks surged 12 points to 649.
