Mid-Day Report

Investors hopeful that lawmakers are close to finalizing the details of the $700 billion bailout plan lifted the markets higher during the midday with the Dow rocketing 265 points to 11,090.  Nasdaq jumped 43 points to 2199.

On the upside

Pharmacopeia (Nasdaq: PCOP) agreed to be acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: LGND) in a deal valued at approximately $70 million.

Longbow upgraded Owens-Illinois (NYSE: OI) to Buy from Neutral.

TOP Ships (Nasdaq: TOPS) entered an exclusivity agreement to negotiate a possible sale of the tanker and dry bulk shipment company to an affiliate of George Economou.

On the downside

CRA International (Nasdaq: CRAI) reported sharply lower third quarter earnings that fell short of expectations due to lower revenue from the management and financial consulting company's finance litigation unit.

First quarter earnings for Texas Industries (NYSE: TXI) tumbled to miss estimates by a wide margin as cement sales dropped.

Shares of Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) continued to drop after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services further downgraded the Seattle based thrift's counterparty credit rating yesterday.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 10 points to 708.