Acquisition news lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow climbing 55 points 12,739. Nasdaq gained 15 points to 2858.
On the upside
Apollo Global Management will pay a premium of $5.50 per share in cash to acquire "American Idol" parent company CKx (Nasdaq: CKXE).
Dean Foods (NYSE: DF) reported lower first quarter earnings but the results surpassed analyst expectations.
Fossil (Nasdaq: FOSL) reported sharply higher first quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations as revenue climbed.
On the downside
BioMimetic Therapeutics (Nasdaq: BMTI) disappointed with a loss for the first quarter.
Although MannKind (Nasdaq: MNKD) narrowed first quarter losses, the loss was greater than expected.
Mad Money's Jim Cramer said that Chinese social networking site Renren (NYSE: RENN) was too expensive.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 8 to 851.
