Retreating oil prices along with mergers and acquisitions news lifted the markets during the midday with the Dow climbing 50 points to 13,572. Nasdaq rose 24 points to 2729.
On the upside
Vestar Capital will pay approximately $763.8 million to acquire Radiation Therapy Services (Nasdaq: RTSX).
A private equity fund will purchase Goodman Global (NYSE: GGL) in an all cash deal worth nearly $1.8 billion.
Home Inns & Hotels Management (Nasdaq: HMIN) will acquire Top Star.
On the downside
Mobile Mini (Nasdaq: MINI) blamed higher costs for lowering its third quarter outlook.
Lehman Bros. downgraded the mortgage and specialty finance sector sending shares of MGIC Investment(NYSE: MTG) lower.
L. B. Foster (Nasdaq: FSTR) will announce earnings later this week.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 10 to 9 on the NYSE and by a margin of more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks soared 9 points to 808.