The markets opened sharply higher with the Dow rocketing 278 points to 11,381 after France and Germany vowed to finalize plans to support struggling European banks. Nasdaq jumped 77 points to 2556.
On the upside
Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) abandoned plans to separate its DVD rental business from its video streaming business.
Superior Energy Services (NYSE: SPN) will pay approximately $2.7 billion in cash and stock to acquire Complete Production Services (NYSE: CPX).
Citigroup upgraded Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) to a Buy rating.
On the downside
Analysts downgraded Sprint (NYSE: S) and cut their price target on the company.
The Food and Drug Administration requested additional animal studies for Insmed’s (Nasdaq: INSM) pseudomonas lung infection treatment Arikace.
Hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli increased his stake in Amag Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AMAG) in order to halt the company’s merger with Allos Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ALTH).
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 10 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 6 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks leaped 20 points to 676.
