Fed May Continue Treasury Purchases, Markets Open Higher

The markets opened higher with the Dow soaring 103 points to 12,037 over expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue buying Treasuries even after its qualitative easing program ends. Nasdaq climbed 24 points to 2677.

On the upside

LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) will repurchase up to $110 million worth of American Depositary Shares.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) said on Friday after market close that it is exploring a possible strategic transaction with Icagen (Nasdaq: ICGN).

Metropolitan Health Networks will pay approximately $416 million to acquire Continucare (NYSE: CNU).

On the downside

Shares of Pain Therapeutics (NYSE: PTIE) continued falling after the Food and Drug Administration delayed approval of the company's abuse resistant pain treatment Remoxy on Friday.

Exco Resources (NYSE: XCO) chief executive Douglas Miller was unable to raise capital to take the company private and may instead acquire a small stake in the company.

Concerns that recent weak 3D movie ticket sales was more than a temporary dip but a continuing trend weighed down shares of RealD (NYSE: RLD).

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 5 points to 803.