US stocks swung between gains and losses on Thursday following economic data that showed some improvement, but not enough to ease investor concerns about the health of the economy.
Below we highlight few companies whose shares are actively trading in Thursday's session.
Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) shares rose more than 1.5% after the pc maker announced that it will not increase its most recent proposal to acquire 3PAR, and that Dell has ended its discussions regarding a potential acquisition. Dell is entitled to receive a $72 million break-up fee from 3PAR upon the termination of its merger agreement. Dell's final offer to acquire 3PAR (NYSE: PAR) was not accepted by 3PAR's board of directors.
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) jumped more than 7% on speculation that the company could be a takeover target.
AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE: AN) rallied more than 4% on Thursday after the automotive retailer announced that its retail new vehicle unit sales in August 2010, as reported to the applicable automotive manufacturers, totaled 18,669, a decrease of 17% as compared to August 2009, which benefited from the highly successful Cash for Clunkers program. Excluding the impact of Cash for Clunkers, August 2010 retail new vehicle unit sales increased 19% versus August 2009. The company also said that August 2010 average daily new unit sales increased 8% versus July 2010.
Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: RNN) soared more than 13% after it announced the publication of a research article in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters on the anti-tumor activity of RX-8243 and its analogues. The article offers data demonstrating that RX-8243, an isoquinolineamine analogue, significantly inhibits the growth of human cancer cells, including paclitaxel resistant HCT-15 human colorectal cancer cells and the growth of tumor in in vivo model of nude mice injected with paclitaxel-resistant HCT-15 human colorectal cancer cells.
Graymark Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRMH) surged more than 10% after it announced a definitive agreement under which Walgreen Co. will acquire substantially all of the assets of ApothecaryRx, the independent pharmacy division of Graymark Healthcare. Graymark expects to realize a total enterprise sale value of approximately $35 million including retained AR, expenses and proceeds from the liquidation of remaining ApothecaryRx assets.
Disclosure: Author doesn't own any of the stocks discussed here.
