The markets traded higher during the midday with the Dow soaring 146 points to 15,055 as May construction spending rose 0.5%. Nasdaq surged 46 points to 3449.
On the upside
Reuters reported that Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) was interested in acquiring Cablevision (NYSE: CVC).
Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter resumed coverage of Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) with an Outperform rating and lifted his price target from $32 to $40.
Kohlberg & Co. will take Steinway Musical Instruments (NYSE: LVB) in a deal valued at approximately $438 million.
On the downside
An International Trade Commission judged issued an initial determination that Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Huawei Technologies and ZTE did not infringe on InterDigital (Nasdaq: IDCC) patents.
BMO Capital Markets downgraded Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE) to an Underperform rating.
Analysts cited BlackBerry's (Nasdaq: BBRY) unexpected loss for the first quarter for downgrading the smartphone maker.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index climbed 18 points to 1624.