All of the markets are up today and the Dow leads the way climbing 150 points a rise of over 1.2%. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 are both up over 1.2% as well, rising 41 and 15 points respectively. The major driving forces behind the rise today include the fact that President Obama has made his first foray into the deficit negotiations today in hopes of getting a significant deal done. Hopes are that President Obama’s involvement will expedite a deal that will lower government spending and increase the nations debt ceiling. Another major announcement helping to push the market is the news that banks regulators have declare that the biggest of global banks must boost their ratios of common equity to risk-weighted assets by up to 2.5%. This is less than the 3% that some economist had expected. With the markets performing well today lets take a look at a few individual stocks posting strong gains.
Servidyne, Inc (Nasdaq:SERV) shares have posted strong gains today climbing 52% to $3.44 per share. Volume is well above average on news that Scientific Conservation Inc. has agreed to purchase SERV fro $3.50 per share. Servidyne will be taken private in the all cash transaction. The deal is expected to close in SERV’s fiscal second quarter and be worth nearly $13 million.
Continucare Corp. (NYSE:CNU) shares are on the rise today gaining nearly 31% to $6.24 per share with an intraday high of $6.32. Volume is trading very heavy as nearly 15.6 million shares have exchanged hands as news that Metropolitan Health Networks Inc. (AMEX:MDF) has agreed to purchase CNU. The buyout deal includes an offering of $6.25 in cash and .0414 shares of Metropolitan stock. The deal is expected to close within the third quarter and is worth a reported $391 million.
Icagen, Inc. (Nasdaq:ICGN) shares have shown the largest gains on the day increasing by 172% to $6.52 per share. Volume is up over 4 million shares as news that ICGN and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) are in discussion about an acquisition. Icagen has a pain drug collaboration in place with Pfizer, and a deal between the two makes sense. Pfizer can possibly get in early on a drug that could potentially net the company a billion dollars. Currently Icagen has a Market value around $18 million.
