• Alcoa (NYSE:AA) posted Q2 EPS of $0.32, lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimates of $0.34 per share. Revenues for the quarter rose 27% year-over-year to $6.59 billion
• Swiss chemicals company Lonza Group (CH:LONN) will buy biocide firm Arch Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:ARJ) in deal valued at $1.4 billion. Following this development, shares of Arch Chemical gained 12.33%
• Share prices of Chinese electric motor vehicle maker Kandi Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:KNDI) increased 19.68% to close at $2.19 after the company signed an agreement with Hangzhou Electric Vehicle Service Co. The deal will enable the companies to work together on a municipal government electric-vehicle pilot program
• Reports on Friday said doctors in Sweden have successfully replaced a cancer patient’s trachea using stem cells. Reacting to the news, shares of stem cell research company Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:PSTI) gained 9.61%
• Concerns surrounding the debt situations in Europe and the United States pulled down shares of financial giants Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 1.36%
• Shares of News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWSA) declined by 7.58%, making it one of the poorest performers of the day for the S&P 500 Index. The shares of the media company fell after allegations of phone hacking which will become a major hurdle in its bid to acquire British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (PINK:BSYBY)
• Shareholders of NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) gave the green signal to the company’s plan to merge with Deutsche Boerse AG. However, according to reports the deal could face regulatory obstacles
• Internet search engine company Local.com (NASDAQ:LOCM) said it has acquired California-based Screamin’ Media Group for around $12 million in cash, stock and debt. Local.com helps users to find local business and services on the web
• Analysts at Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) downgraded Alcatel Lucent ADR (NYSE:ALU) to “Hold” rating from “Buy” rating in a research note to investors
• Analysts at Jefferies initiated coverage on shares of Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) with a “Hold” rating and a target price of $17 on the shares of the company
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