Business activity in the Midwest rose more than expected to lift the markets higher during the midday with the Dow rising 18 points to 9888. Nasdaq gained 11 points to 2147.
On the upside
Celgene (Nasdaq: CELG) will pay approximately $2.9 billion in cash and stock to acquire Abraxis BioScience (Nasdaq: ABII).
Spanish telephone services firm Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) increased its offer for Brazilian cellular company Vivo (NYSE: VIV) from 6.5 billion euros to 7.15 billion euros.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) will pay approximately $775 million in cash to acquire Argon ST (Nasdaq: STST).
On the downside
MELA Sciences (Nasdaq: MELA) priced its offering of 2.2 million common shares at $7.50 per share.
Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI) reported lower third quarter earnings that fell short of expectations.
General Mills (NYSE: GIS) disappointed with sharply lower fourth quarter earnings as revenue fell.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 3 points to 619.
