Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rise, Gannett To Acquire Belo For $1.5B

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.23 percent to 15,029.33 while the NASDAQ gained 0.09 percent to 3,403.57. The S&P also rose, surging 0.23 percent to 1,616.27.

Gannett Co

announced its plans to acquire Belo

in a deal valued at $2.2 billion. Gannett will pay $1.5 billion in cash, or $13.75 per share to buy Belo, and assume $715 million in existing debt. The deal price represents a 28.1% premium over Belo's closing stock price on Wednesday. The transaction is likely to close by the end of 2013.

Gannett Co

shot up 28.21 percent to $25.45 after the company announced its plans to acquire Belo

for $1.5 billion in cash. Shares of Belo

got a boost, shooting up 27.26 percent to $13.66 on Gannett buyout Safeway

was also up, gaining 15.43 percent to $26.67 after the company announced its plans to sell its Canadian operations to Sobeys for $5.7 billion.

First Solar

was down, falling 2.38 percent to $45.55 after the company priced its 8.5 million shares of its common stock at a price of $46.00 per share. Shares of AbbVie

were down 2.36 percent to $41.76 after the company announced the results from the CONCERTO trial. Elan Corporation plc

shares tumbled 4.58 percent to $12.50 after Royalty Pharma reported that its offer for the company may lapse.

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.22 percent to $95.67, while gold traded down 1.09 percent to $1,376.80. Silver traded down 0.65 percent Thursday to $21.66, while copper fell 0.65 percent to 3.20.

European shares tumbled as the Asian weakness spilled over. Spanish 10-year government bond yields rose 6 basis points to 4.69 percent. Italian 10-year government bond yields rose 6 basis points to 4.44 percent. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.73 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index gained 0.34 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.82 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.18 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.32 percent.

US jobless claims dropped 12,000 to 334,000 in the week ended June 8, versus 346,000 in the earlier week. However, economists were projecting jobless claims figure of 350,000. US import prices declined 0.6% in May. However, economists were expecting a 0.2% fall. April's import price index was revised to a drop of 0.7%, versus a previous estimate of a 0.5% fall. Export prices declined 0.5% in May, versus a 0.7% drop in April. US retail sales climbed 0.6% in May, versus a prior reading of 0.10%. However, economists were expecting retail sales to rise 0.5%. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index declined to -31.30 in the week ended Jun 9, versus a prior reading of -29.70. US business inventories rose 0.30% to $1.66 trillion in April. Economists were projecting a 0.3% rise. Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.