Manufacturing activity expanded in September to lift the markets to a sharply higher open with the Dow soaring 147 points to 13,584. Nasdaq climbed 25 points to 3142.
On the upside
3M (NYSE: MMM) will acquire Ceradyne (Nasdaq: CRDN) in a deal valued at approximately $860 million.
Freddie Mac lowered the capital requirement for MGIC Investment (NYSE: MTG) to continue writing insurance.
Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) announced a 1-for-4 reverse stock split and will repurchase up to $500 million worth of stock.
On the downside
Janney Capital Markets analyst Mark Kalinowski downgraded Wendy's (Nasdaq: WEN) to a Neutral rating.
Mad Money's Jim Cramer recommended Sprint (NYSE: S) but the stock price fell.
UBS downgraded Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to a Sell rating.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 8 points to 846.
Manufacturing Activity Expands, Markets Soar
October 01, 2012 at 10:40 AM EDT
