In early trading, the Standard and Poor 500 was up about 13.32 at 1291.68, led by financial stock Tower Bancorp (NASDAQ: TOBC), as confidence rose that Greece would not default on its debt and other European countries would be able to positively resolve their debt issues. This is the fourth day in a row that the stock market is posting gains after a long streak of losses.
S&P 500 Winners
Leading the S&P higher was Tower Bancorp (NASDAQ: TOBC), registering a $6.23 gain to $26.99 after Susquehanna Bancshares (NASDAQ: SUSQ) announced it would acquire the bank in a $343 million deal for cash and stock. That’s about a 23% gain for Tower Bancorp stock.
Commercial Metals (NYSE: CMC) also rose early, up 6% to $14.59 after reporting higher than expected earnings (31 cents a share vs. a 20 cent estimate, with total revenues of $2.1 billion vs. a $2.07 billion estimate).
Gapping up strongly to open higher by almost 6%, KB Financial Group (NYSE: KB), a financial holding company, is trading $2.54 higher at $47.46.
S&P 500 Losers
American Capital Agency (NASDAQ: AGNC), a mortgage REIT, was lower by about 4% to $28.63, gapping down significantly at the opening bell.
Walgreen Company (NYSE: WAG) fell 5.75% after reporting that negotiations to renew its contract to be part of the Expresss Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) pharmacy network were unsuccessful. Walgreens did report a 30% increase in net income, however.
Abington Bancorp (NASDAQ: ABBC) was down over 9%. Abington was recently downgraded by The Street from “Buy” to “Hold” due to unimpresive growth in net income and weak operating cash flow Now at $9.94, Abington Bancorp shares are now rading below book value.