On the upside
Warner Chilcott (Nasdaq: WCRX) offered $3.1 billion to buy the prescription drug unit from Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG).
Financial services companies rose across the board following analyst upgrades. Shares of Citigroup (NYSE:C), Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) rose sharply on heavy volume.
Shares of Charlotte Russe Holding (Nasdaq: CHIC) surged after the women's clothing retailer arranged its sale to a private equity firm for $380 million.
An analyst upgraded Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) citing increased business with PC maker Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ).
On the downside
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered the credit rating of American Capital (Nasdaq: ACAS), a private equity and venture capital firm.
Shares of Smith & Wesson (Nasdaq: SWHC) eased after an analyst downgraded the stock citing slowing demand for firearms.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 3 points to 584.
