Bargain Hunters Lift Markets

Bargain hunters lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow climbing 66 points to 12,156. Nasdaq gained 12 points to 2715.

On the upside

Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN) announced a shareholders rights plan in response to International Paper's (NYSE: IP) unsolicited acquisition offer of $30.60 per share.

LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) completed the sale of a minority stake in its polysilicon manufacturing subsidiary LDK Silicon for $240 million.

Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Aeterna Zentaris (Nasdaq: AEZS) with an Outperform rating.

On the downside

Talbots (NYSE: TLB) swung to a first quarter profit but the women's apparel retailer warned of a disappointing second quarter.

Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY) disappointed with first quarter earnings that fell short of analyst expectations.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher King downgraded Sprint (NYSE: S) to a Sell rating.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 7 points to 803.