Upbeat Earnings Lifts Markets To Higher Open
On the upside
Morgan Keegan upgraded Synovus Financial (NYSE: SNV).
Terra Industries (NYSE: TRA) agreed to be acquired by Yara for approximately $4.1 billion in cash to form the world's largest fertilizer producer.
Barclays (NYSE: BCS) reported fourth quarter earnings that surged more than tenfold beating analyst expectations.
On the downside
PMI (NYSE: PMI) disappointed with a much wider than expected loss for the fourth quarter.
Shares of Compellent Technologies (NYSE: CML) continued to fall after reporting fourth quarter earnings that fell short of expectations last week.
General Cable (NYSE: BGC) stock continued falling after swinging to a fourth quarter loss.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 3 points to 613.
