The markets opened higher with the Dow climbing 92 points to 16,549 after Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said yesterday that interest rates would remain low for some time. Nasdaq leaped 49 points to 4248.
On the upside
The Food and Drug Administration approved Intuitive Surgical's (Nasdaq: ISRG) da Vinci Xi Surgical System and will introduce the system in the U. S.
Arrowhead Research (Nasdaq: ARWR) completed enrollment of the first cohort in a Phase 2c trial of its chronic hepatitis B treatment ARC-520.
Hilltop Holdings will acquire SWS Group (NYSE: SWS).
On the downside
A district court judge found that Hospira did not infringe on two The Medicines Co. (Nasdaq: MDCO) patents.
Arotech (Nasdaq: ARTX) widened fourth quarter losses as revenue fell. The company acquired UEC Electronics.
Clean Diesel Technologies (Nasdaq: CDTI) will offer more than 2 million shares of common stock at the discounted price of $3.40 per share.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 gained 10 points to 1883. Bitcoin rose $24.95 or 5.49% to $479.62.
