Investors snapped up bargains after yesterday's sell-off to lift the markets to a sharply higher close with the Dow leaping 162 points to 12,573. Nasdaq surged 33 points to 2843.
On the upside
Shares of LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) climbed on news that First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) was increasing production at it facility in Germany.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition ranked Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) No. 1 globally for environmental and social performance on the 2012 Solar Scorecard.
Cypress Semiconductor (Nasdaq: CY) offered a premium of approximately $87.5 million to acquire Ramtron International (Nasdaq: RMTR).
On the downside
Retreating natural gas prices weighed down shares of Quicksilver Resources (NYSE: KWK).
BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield warned Pandora Media (NYSE: P) to take note of Songza's expansion into being one of Apple's most downloaded free apps.
Shares of ATP Oil & Gas (Nasdaq: ATPG) continued falling after chief executive Matt McCarroll resigned last week after less than a week on the job.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks soared 10 points to 761.
