Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Textron To Acquire Beechcraft For $1.4B

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.19 percent to 16,510.61 while the NASDAQ declined 0.01 percent to 4,166.71. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.10 percent to 1,843.86. Top Headline
Yesterday, Textron TXT agreed to buy acquire Beechcraft for around $1.4 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2014. In 2013, Beechcraft has around $1.8 billion in expected revenue. Equities Trading UP
Shares of Textron TXT got a boost, shooting up 1.23 percent to $36.65 after the company agreed to buy acquire Beechcraft for around $1.4 billion in cash. Westlake Chemical WLK shot up 1.94 percent to $120.59 after analysts at Susquehanna upgraded the stock from Neutral to Positive and lifted the target price from $118 to $145. Organovo Holdings ONVO was also up, gaining 6.08 percent to $9.60. The rise in the shares may be attributed to Thursday's Computerworld Article on 3D printed liver coming in 2014. Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Twitter TWTR were down 5.50 percent to $69.28 after Macquarie downgraded the stock from Neutral to Underperform Textura TXTR tumbled 5.37 percent to $29.62. Textura shares tumbled 17.06 percent yesterday after Citron Research issued a scathing report on the company midway through the morning Thursday. Ariad Pharmaceuticals ARIA was down, falling 6.72 percent to $6.53. Ariad shares have dropped 63.95 percent over the past 52 weeks. Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.45 percent to $100.00, while gold traded up 0.32 percent to $1,216.20. Silver traded up 0.55 percent Friday to $20.03, while copper fell 0.34 percent to $3.39. Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.52 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.78 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 0.80 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 1.13 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.80 percent. Economics
The EIA will release weekly report on natural gas stocks at 10:30 a.m. ET, while petroleum inventories report will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.