The Dow Gained 116 Points, Nasdaq Gained 22

The Dow gained 115.76 points today to close at 12,226.17 the Nasdaq gained 21.75 points to close at 2,394.41, and the S&P 500 gained 15.11 points to close at 1,402.06. Another 'Merger Monday' helped the markets move higher today. Some of today's deals include: ServiceMaster (NYSE: SVM) was acquired by private equity for $4.5 billion, Community Health Systems acquired Triad Hospitals (NYSE: TRI) for $5.1 billion, Hercules Offshore (Nasdaq: HERO) acquired TODCO (NYSE: THE) for $2.3 billion, EGL Inc (Nasdaq: EAGL) announced it accepted $38 per share bid by the CEO-led group and Barclays Bank confirmed acquisition talks with ABN AMRO (NYSE: ABN). Separately, Oil fell $0.52 to $56.59.

Volume was modest with 2.83 billion shares trading on the NYSE and 1.7 billion trading on the Nasdaq. Advancers topped decliners by a margin of 25:08 on the NYSE and 20:10 on the Nasdaq.

In Individual stories, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ACAD) gained 103.4% after announcing positive top-line results from its Phase II schizophrenia co-therapy trial with ACP-103, ACADIA's proprietary and selective 5-HT2A inverse agonist. The co-therapy arms with ACP-103 demonstrated statistically significant antipsychotic efficacy as measured by the reduction in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the primary endpoint of the trial. In addition, the co-therapy arm combining ACP-103 with low-dose risperidone demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in antipsychotic efficacy as compared to low-dose risperidone plus placebo, and comparable efficacy to high-dose risperidone plus placebo. AtheroGenics (Nasdaq: AGIX) fell 60.5% after announcing that its ARISE Phase III clinical study of its lead drug candidate, AGI-1067, did not show a difference from placebo in its composite primary endpoint; however, it did achieve a number of other important predefined endpoints.

Earnings due out tomorrow before the open include: Carrizo Oil & Gas (Nasdaq: CRZO), Commercial Metals (NYSE: CMC), Perry Ellis (Nasdaq: PERY), Progress Software (Nasdaq: PRGS) and Superior Industries (NYSE: SUP).

Tomorrow, investors will be looking for economic data on Feb. Housing Starts and Building Permits (8:30AM EST).

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