Merrimack Pharmaceuticals shares were surging in premarket trade, up 24.5 percent to $8.95 after the company said it reached a deal to develop and market Merrimack's pancreatic cancer drug outside the U.S. with Baxter International.
Corporations
Verizon Communications Inc has hired investment bank TAP Advisors LLC to plan a sale of its network's assets including its cell towers, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Nasdaq OMX Group Inc (NDAQ.O) won a contract to administer billing and other chores for the data feed system that sparked a three-hour trading halt in Nasdaq-listed stocks last year, but a contract to build and manage the system is still undecided, the firm that oversaw bidding said on Tuesday.
Shares in drugmakers AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and Shire (SHP.L) both fell more than 5 percent on Tuesday after the U.S. Treasury took steps to curb "inversion" deals that allow companies to escape high U.S. taxes by reincorporating abroad.
Euro zone business activity has expanded at a slightly weaker pace than expected in September as firms cut prices for the 30th month in a row, a survey showed on Tuesday.
Otter Media, a joint venture between telecom giant AT&T Inc and The Chernin Group, has agreed to buy a majority stake in Fullscreen, one of the largest networks on YouTube, the companies announced on Monday.
Asian shares slipped on Tuesday as a periodic bout of angst over China combined with the U.S. dollar's recent meteoric run to pile pressure on commodity prices.
Drugs and chemicals maker Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) said it agreed to acquire Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL.O) for $17 billion in cash to boost its Merck Millipore lab supplies business in the biggest takeover in the German group's history, lifting its shares.
Asian shares got off on the back foot on Monday after an uninspiring session on Wall Street, while the dollar gave back a little of its recent solid gains in early trading.
Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) said on Monday it would buy U.S. oilfield equipment maker Dresser-Rand Group Inc (DRC.N) for $7.6 billion, in a move that would significantly boost the German company's oil and gas business in North America.
Swiss private bank Julius Baer is interested in acquiring Coutts International, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland, but will not get into a bidding war for the venerable British bank's overseas arm, a Swiss paper reported on Sunday.
Japan's SoftBank Corp said it expected a gain of about 500 billion yen ($4.6 billion) from Alibaba Group Holding's share listing in New York, where the Chinese e-commerce leader surged 38 percent on its first day of trade.
JBS SA, the world's largest meatpacker, has put off a plan to raise 4 billion reais ($1.7 billion) from the initial public offering of its pork, poultry and food-processing operations in Brazil, two sources with direct knowledge of the decision said.
To capitalize on a flood of domestic and Canadian crude into the U.S. Gulf Coast, logistics giant Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is spending more than $1.5 billion in Houston to build the most flexible oil and fuel transport hub in the country.
A looming gas glut worldwide is prompting Japanese and Indian firms to resell to European traders and utilities big chunks of U.S. liquefied natural gas they had committed to buy several years ago, signaling tempered enthusiasm for U.S. energy.