Upbeat earnings lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow rising 32 points to 12,295. Nasdaq gained 17 points to 2762.
On the upside
Silgan Holdings (Nasdaq: SLGN) will acquire Graham Packaging (NYSE: GIL) in a deal valued at approximately $4.1 million including the assumption of debt.
Chinese mobile phone maker Zoom Technologies (Nasdaq: ZOOM) licensed Qualcomm's (Nasdaq: QCOM) chip patents to develop 3G products for the Chinese market.
Riverbed Technology (Nasdaq: RVBD) forecast first quarter earnings and revenue above analyst expectations.
On the downside
Investors locked in profits on Identive Group (Nasdaq: INVE), whose shares surged yesterday when a unit of the company was selected to supply near field communication RFID stickers for Google Places in Austin, Texas.
Gerdau (NYSE: GGB) priced its global offering of more than 68 million common shares at R$15.60 per share and an offering of more than 203 million preferred shares at R$19.25 per share.
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) announced a pilot program with Visa (NYSE: V) to test Smart Cards embedded with EMV chip technology but the stock price slipped.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 2 points to 824.
