Markets Open Higher As Home Sales Soar
On the upside
Origin Agritech (Nasdaq: SEED) announced over the weekend that the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture approved its genetically modified phytase corn.
LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) posted an unexpected profit for the third quarter and forecast fourth quarter results well ahead of estimates.
KPN will pay $3 per share, up from its previous offer of $2.25 per share, to acquire the remaining 44% of iBasis (Nasdaq: IBAS) that it does not already own.
On the downside
Privately held Ception Therapeutics reported mixed clinical trial results for its esophagus inflammation treatment Cinquil. Cephalon (Nasdaq: CEPH) paid $100 million in January to Ception for an option agreement to acquire the biotechnology company.
Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN) paid $769 million to acquire Nortel Networks' global optical networking and carrier ethernet businesses.
Peet's Coffee & Tea (Nasdaq: PEET) upped its cash and stock offer for Diedrich Coffee to $32 per share from $26 per share in response to Green Mountain's $30 per share offer.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 7 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 14 points to 598.
