Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's comments that the Fed will maintain current monetary policy lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow gaining 71 points to 15,873. Nasdaq climbed 19 points to 4167.
On the upside
Mallinckrodt will pay a premium of approximately $1.3 billion to acquire Cadence Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CADX).
Sprint (NYSE: S) narrowed fourth quarter losses more than expected as revenue rose.
Lockheed Martin will use Ocean Power Technologies (Nasdaq: GALT) power buoys to construct the world's largest ocean wave energy power plant.
On the downside
Infoblox (NYSE: BLOX) reported preliminary second quarter revenue below analyst estimates and lowered its full year guidance prompting downgrades.
Investors locked in profits on Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN).
Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS) swung to a better than expected profit for the fourth quarter but the company forecast 2014 revenue below estimates.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 5 to 3 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 rose 5 points to 1805. Bitcoin lost $10.39 or 1.79% to $581.94.