Corporate consolidations lifted the markets to a sharply higher close with the Dow jumping 213
points to 11,482. Nasdaq soared 47 points to
2555.
On the upside
Bargain hunters lifted shares of Dendreon (Nasdaq: DNDN), whose stock price plunged last week with the rest of the market.Carlyle Group entered exclusive negotiations with Pharmaceutical Product Development (Nasdaq: PPDI) to acquire the clinical research organization.
Shares of Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH) and Hovnanian Enterprise (NYSE: HOV) both rose even as home builder sentiment held steady in August.
On the downside
China Housing & Land Development (Nasdaq: CHLN) disappointed with sharply lower second quarter earnings as revenue plunged.
Atrinsic (Nasdaq: ATRN) widened second quarter losses as revenue fell.
QKL Stores (NYSE: QKLS) blamed higher selling expenses for swinging to a second quarter loss.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 8 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks surged 21 points to 718.
