A cease fire in Libya lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow soaring 115 points to 11,890. Nasdaq rose 15 points to 2651.
On the upside
Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) will pay a premium of $8 per share in cash to acquire genetic diagnostics firm Celera (Nasdaq: CRA).
Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) announced that from February 13 through March 12, sales of its Turbo Tax federal units increased 23% over last year with online sales soaring 30%.
Shares of cigarette maker Lorillard (NYSE: LO) rose after The Bedford Report said that despite a recession, cigarette companies continue paying dividends.
On the downside
Nike (NYSE: NKE) blamed higher expenses for third quarter earnings that fell short of analyst expectations and warned that increased costs will continue to negatively impact earnings.
LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) reversed year ago losses to post a better than expected profit for the fourth quarter but investors were disappointed that the company merely affirmed its 2011 revenue guidance rather than raising its outlook.
Affymax (Nasdaq: AFFY) priced its public offering of nearly 8.5 million common shares at the discounted price of $5.90 per share.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 7 points 793.
