On the upside
Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE: APD) offered approximately $5.1 billion in cash to acquire Airgas (NYSE: ARG).
Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) reversed year ago losses to post a greater than expected profit for the first quarter as revenue rose.
Fourth quarter earnings for Power-One (Nasdaq: PWER) more than doubled as sales climbed.
On the downside
Phase Forward (Nasdaq: PFWD) blamed impairment charges for swinging to a fourth quarter loss.
While Corning (NYSE: GLW) said that sales of liquid crystal display televisions, laptops and handheld devices are expected to be strong in 2010, the company failed to offer a full year outlook.
NIC (Nasdaq: EGOV) disappointed with lower fourth quarter earnings that fell short of expectations.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 4 points to 585.
