Consumer Spending Rises, Markets Open Higher
On the upside
Avnet will pay approximately $252 million in cash to acquire Bell Microproducts (Nasdaq: BELM).
MDRNA (Nasdaq: MRNA) received an allowance letter from the patent office for its proprietary method of targeting peptide technology.
Lazard Capital Markets analyst Todd Slater upgraded Talbots (NYSE: TLB) to a Buy rating.
On the downside
Pacific Ethanol (Nasdaq: PEIX) subsidiary Pacific Ethanol Holding Co. will restructure approximately $293.5 million worth of debt and secure up to $35 million in a new line of credit.
Arca BioPharma (Nasdaq: ABIO) must revise the phase III clinical trial of its heart failure treatment bucindolol.
Allied Irish Banks (NYSE: AIB) must increase its capital and will most likely need another injection of capital from the government.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 3 points to 682.
