Investors welcomed the European Central Bank's plan to begin buying government bonds on March 9. The markets opened higher with the Dow gaining 44 points to 18,141 and Nasdaq climbing 21 points to 4,988.
On the upside
Second Sight Medical Products (Nasdaq: EYES) announced the first successful implants of their Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System at two centers in Italy.
AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) will pay a premium of approximately $21 billion to purchase Pharmacyclics (Nasdaq: PCYC).
Pacific Ethanol (Nasdaq: PEIX) reported higher fourth quarter earnings as revenue rose.
On the downside
Achillion Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ACHN) widened losses for the fourth quarter.
Embraer (NYSE: ERJ) disappointed with sharply lower fourth quarter earnings as revenue fell.
Darling Ingredients (NYSE: DAR) reported sharply higher fourth quarter earnings and revenue but the stock price dropped.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 10 to 9 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 4 points to 2103. Bitcoin slipped $1 to $268.
ECB to buy government bonds, markets open higher
March 05, 2015 at 09:42 AM EST