Portugal's debt auction sparked strong demand to lift the markets to a higher open with the Dow climbing 73 points to 10,414. Nasdaq gained 16 points to 2225.
On the upside
Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) will pay approximately $885 million to acquire biopharmaceutical ZymoGenetics (Nasdaq: ZGEN).
Digital solutions company Zoran (Nasdaq: ZRAN) will acquire cable set-top-box silicon tuner maker Microtune (Nasdaq: TUNE) in an all cash deal valued at approximately $166 million.
JA Solar Holdings (Nasdaq: JASO) announced that it will supply a total of 500MW of mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline solar cells to several clients in 2011.
On the downside
Silicon Laboratories (Nasdaq: SLAB) blamed weakening demand for lowering its outlook for the third quarter.
Talbots (NYSE: TLB) reversed year ago losses to post a second quarter profit but revenue slipped to miss estimates and the women's clothing retailer forecast third quarter results below expectations.
Chardan Capital Markets downgraded China Agritech (Nasdaq: CAGC) to a Sell rating.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 5 points to 635.
