Greater than expected expansion of the manufacturing sector boosted the markets to a higher open with the Dow gaining 75 points to 14,885. Nasdaq climbed 32 points to 3622.
On the upside
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) will pay approximately $7.2 billion to acquire Nokia's (NYSE: NOK) smartphones and patents.
Sterotaxis (Nasdaq: STXS) renewed its revolving credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank.
Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC) will build three global ICT centers over the next five years.
On the downside
Suntech Power (NYSE: STP) reached an understanding with its creditors to restructure the company.
Cytokinetics (Nasdaq: CYTK) and Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) reported disappointing results from a midstage clinical trial of their heart failure treatment omecamtiv mecarbil.
BMO Capital Markets downgraded LeafFrog Enterprises (NYSE: LF) from an Outperform rating to a Market Perform rating and cut its price target from $15 to $10.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 gained 13 points to 1646.
