The markets opened higher with the Dow rising 29 points to 22,297 ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week. Nasdaq gained 12 points to 6,460.
On the upside
Northrop Grumman will pay a premium of approximately $7.8 billion in cash to acquire Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA).
Meritor (NYSE: MTOR) will sell its stake in the Meritor WABCO joint venture to WABCO Holdings (NYSE: WBC).
Shares of CF Industries (NYSE: CF) rose for the fourth day.
On the downside
Shares of Ubiquiti Networks (Nasdaq: UBNT) extended its losses.
Seagate Technology (Nasdaq: STX) entered a strategic cooperation agreement with Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU).
Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC) will begin Phase Two of the expansion of its Tasiast mine in Mauritania at an initial cost of $590 million.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 2 points to 2,502. Bitcoin leaped $397 to $4,088.