The markets opened higher with the Dow climbing 83 points to 13,296 as pending home sales rose. Nasdaq soared 31 points to 3078.
On the upside
P. F. Chang's China Bistro (Nasdaq: PFCB) will be taken private Centerbridge Partners in a deal valued at approximately $1.1 billion.
Louis Dreyfus Commodities will pay approximately $78 million to take Imperial Sugar (Nasdaq: IPSU) private.
Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) will remove chairman Aubrey McClendon from his position on the board after a loan scandal.
On the downside
Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY) reported preliminary first quarter results that fell short of expectations.
Domino's Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) reported lower first quarter earnings and revenue that fell short of analyst expectations.
Integrated Device Technology (Nasdaq: IDTI) reported lower fourth quarter earnings and revenue and announced the acquisition of PLX Technology (Nasdaq: PLXT) for approximately $330 million in cash and stock.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 7 points to 824.
