On the upside
Japan's second largest drugmaker Astellas made an unsolicited $3.5 billion hostile bid for OSI Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: OSIP).
American International Group (NYSE: AIG) will sell its Asia business AIA to Britain's Prudential in a $35.5 billion cash and stock deal.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) will acquire Millipore (NYSE: MIL) for approximately $6 billion in cash.
On the downside
Shanda Interactive (Nasdaq: GAME) reported record revenue for the fourth quarter but profit was the weakest in three quarters.
HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) blamed impairment charges for 2009 earnings that fell short of analyst expectations.
The Food and Drug Administration decision is expected today for CombinatoRx's (Nasdaq: CRXX) extended release opiood painkiller Exalgo.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 10 points to 639.
