China announced that it will allow the yuan to appreciate which will allow more competitve pricing for U. S. imports to China. The markets opend higher with the Dow soaring 111 points to 10,562 while Nasdaq gained 20 points to 2330.
On the upside
Ralcorp Holdings (NYSE: RAH) will pay approximately $1.2 billion to acquire American Italian Pasta (Nasdaq: AIPC).
Biovail (NYSE: BVF) and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (NYSE: VRX) announced a merger agreement.
Liberty Media (Nasdaq: LINTA) will spin off its Liberty Capital (Nasdaq: LCAPA) and Liberty Starz (Nasdaq: LSTZA) businesses.
On the downside
Affymax's (Nasdaq: AFFY) anemia treatment Hematide met the goals of four Phase 3 studies but a higher incidence of cardiovascular events among a subgroup of patients raised safety issues.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Ziopharm Oncology's (Nasdaq: ZIOP) Phase III study design for its metastatic soft tissue sarcoma treatment palifosfamide without Special Protocol Assessment.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will not renew its Visa sponsorship agreement with Global Payments (NYSE: GPN).
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 9 points to 676.
