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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

US STOCKS-Wall St slightly higher as Tesla lifts tech-heavy Nasdaq, (NYSE: FRX)

U.S. stocks were slightly higher on Tuesday after Wall Street's biggest gain of the year, boosted by Tesla shares which hit an all-time high, giving a lift to the tech-heavy Nasdaq index.Economic reports were disappointing. U.S. homebuilder confidence suffered its largest one-month drop ever in February, and the New York Federal Reserve's gauge of manufacturing showing weaker-than-expected reading, but investors quickly shifted focus to more market-positive news in mergers and acquisitions."Much of the recent concern over the health of the U.S. economy has been explained at the hands of the weather," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut.Shares of Forest Laboratories Inc rocketed nearly 30 percent after Actavis said it would acquire the specialty pharmaceuticals company in a massive cash and stock deal valued at about $25 billion.

Forest Laboratories, Inc. (Forest) develops, manufactures and sells branded forms of ethical drug products, which requires a physician's prescription. Shares of FRX traded higher by 29.21% or $20.85/share to $92.24. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $35.22 and as high as $72.40. On average, 2216920 shares of FRX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 20083266.



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