Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Valeant To Acquire Solta Medical For 2.92/Share

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 1.10 percent to 15,927.95 while the NASDAQ surged 1 percent to 4,041.01. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.88 percent to 1,790.97.

Top Headline
Valeant Pharmaceuticals VRX agreed to acquire Solta Medical SLTM for a transaction value of around $250 million.

Valeant will buy all of the outstanding common stock of Solta Medical for $2.92 per share in cash, representing a 40% premium to Solta's closing price on Friday. The transaction is likely to close in the first quarter of 2014.

Equities Trading UP
AerCap Holdings N.V. AER shot up 38.04 percent to $34.41 after American International Group AIG click here announced its plans to sell its aircraft-leasing business to AerCap in a $5.4 billion deal.

Shares of LSI LSI got a boost, shooting up 38.43 percent to $10.95 after Avago Technologies AVGO announced its plans to buy LSI for $6.6 billion.

Avago Technologies AVGO was also up, gaining 9.29 percent to 49.89 after the company announced its plans to buy LSI.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of TTM Technologies TTMI were down 6.76 percent to $8.00 after the company announced proposed offering of $150 million aggregate principal amount of Convertible Senior Notes.

Anworth Mortgage Asset ANH shares tumbled 3.77 percent to $4.08 after the company declared a Q4 common dividend of $0.08 per share. T-Mobile US TMUS was down, falling 3 percent to $26.81.

Sprint S is preparing a bid for T-Mobile US, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.60 percent to $97.18, while gold traded up 0.07 percent to $1,235.50. Silver traded up 0.26 percent Monday to $19.66, while copper rose 0.36 percent to $3.32.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index gained 1.71 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.75 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 1.72 percent and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.31 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.99 percent.

Economics
The Empire State manufacturing index rose to 0.98 in December, versus a prior reading of -2.21. However, economists were expecting a reading of 5.00. US nonfarm productivity rose by 3.0% in the third quarter, versus an initial reading of 1.9%.

However, economists were expecting revised productivity to surge by 2.8%.

The US flash manufacturing PMI declined to 54.4 in December, versus a reading of 54.7 in November. US industrial production rose 1.1% in November, versus economists' expectations for a 0.6% gain. The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills.

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Posted In: EarningsNewsGuidanceEurozoneCommoditiesForexGlobalEcon #sEconomicsHotIntraday UpdateMarketsMoversTech
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