The U.S. market started the week's trading on a positive note amidst encouraging signs about Europe's debt crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.78 percent, or 91.39 points, to trade at 12,025.97. The Nasdaq composite index gained 0.91 percent, or 24.32 points, to trade at 2,678.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 0.74 percent, or 9.64 points, to trade at 1,278.09.
Hot Stocks of the Day: SWK, GS, LDK, PKE, BMY, AZN, NKE
Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (NYSE: SWK) plans to acquire Swedish security technology firm Niscayah for nearly $1 billion. Shares of Stanley Black added 1 percent, or 54 cents, to trade at $69.82.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) intends to increase its workforce in Brazil by nearly 20 percent this year to expand in an economy that's growing more than twice as fast as the company's home market. Shares were down 0.05 percent, or 6 cents, to $130.84.
LDK Solar Co. (NYSE: LDK) announced its plan to buy back as much as $110 million of its American depository receipts. Shares gained 7.49 percent, or 51 cents, to trade at $7.32.
Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE: PKE) reported a 27 percent decline in its fiscal first-quarter profit to $7.2 million, or 35 cents per share, from $9.9 million, or 48 cents a share a year earlier. During the quarter, revenue dropped 12 percent to $51.8 million from $59 million previously. Shares were down 0.93 percent, or 25 cents, to trade at $26.65 in the opening session.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) and AstraZeneca Plc (NYSE: AZN) announced that patients on their experimental diabetes pill, dapagliflozin, had more breast and bladder cancers than those on a standard drug. Shares of Bristol-Myers were down 1 percent, or 29 cents, to trade at $28.64, and shares of AstraZeneca fell 1.33 percent, or 65 cents, to trade at $48.32.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is scheduled to report its fiscal first-quarter earnings after the market closes today. Analysts' predicts quarterly earnings of $1.16 per share and $4.78 per share for the full year. Shares were up 1.49 percent, or $1.21, to trade at $82.39 in the morning session.