Stocks Open Higher Amid Busy Merger Activity

September 28, 2009 6:50 AM |
A number of acquisition announcements boosted the markets with the Dow climbing 77 points to 9742.  The tech-heavy Nasdaq surged an even more robust 25 points to 2116.  Meanwhile, oil prices fell below the $66 a barrel mark.

On the upside 

Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE: ACS) received a $6.4 billion cash and stock offer from Xerox (NYSE: XRX) expanding the copier company's operations into data center management.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) offered about $6.6 billion in cash to buy the drug business from Belgium-based Solvay.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced that it has surpassed 2 billion in application downloads for its iPhone mobile device.

Aspect Medical systems (Nasdaq: ASPM) received an all-stock offer from Covidien (NYSE: COV) to add brain monitoring devices to its stable of medical products.

On the downside

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) bought an 18% stake in Belgium-based Curcell in a flu development vaccine deal.

Shares of Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) continued to fall after last week's disappointing forecast.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 7 points to 606.

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This page contains a single entry by published on September 28, 2009 6:50 AM.

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