The markets opened higher with the Dow rising 32 points to 16,441 on upbeat earnings. Nasdaq added 4 points to 4,100.
On the upside
Sarepta Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SRPT) will submit a New Drug Application for its Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy treatment eteplirsen by the end of 2014.
Birch Communications will pay a premium of approximately $323 million in cash to acquire Cbeyond (Nasdaq: CBEY).
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) rose after reporting better than expected results last week.
On the downside
Goldman Sachs downgraded Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT) from a Neutral rating to a Sell rating and slashed its price target from $9 to $5.
Shares of Moneygram International (Nasdaq: MGI) continued falling after Wal-Mart's announced its entry into the money transfer service business last week.
Merger discussions between Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) and Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) have ended.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 9 to 7 on the NYSE and by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 2 points to 1867. Bitcoin rose $5.65 or 1.14% to $495.40.
