The markets extended its gains during the midday with the Dow soaring 127 points to 11,936 as investors welcomed merger and acquisition news. Nasdaq jumped 65 points to 2702.
On the upside
KPMG confirmed the accuracy of Silvercorp Metals' (NYSE: SVM) financial reports after conducting an intensive forensic accounting investigation.
Newsweek named Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) as the nation's greenest large retailer for the second year in a row.
Exelixis (Nasdaq: EXEL) reported positive results from a late stage clinical trial of its thyroid cancer treatment cabozantinib.
On the downside
Credit Suisse slashed its price target for SXC Health Solutions (Nasdaq: SXCI) after Cigna (NYSE: CI) announced its acquisition of SXC customer HealthSpring (NYSE: HS).
MF Global Holdings (NYSE: MF) rescheduled its second quarter earnings report release to Tuesday, October 25, 2011 from Thursday, October 27, 2011.
Analysts expect Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) to report higher third quarter earnings on Thursday, October 27, but the stock price fell.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 9 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks leaped 20 points to 732.
