Fertilizers & Agricultural Chemicals

At 11:21 am, the Dow gained 1.21% to 10,426.29, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index moved up 1.40% to 1,094.54 and the NASDAQ composite index rose 1.55% to 2,215.66. The industries that are driving the market today are: Agricultural Chemicals: This industry jumped 9.40% by 11:21 am. The top...

JP Morgan upgraded Agrium (NYSE: AGU) to Overweight, citing rising grain prices. Agrium's price target was also raised to $75, up from $70. JP Morgan analysts said, "Grain prices have risen, the harvest is likely to be early, and so agricultural fundamentals have strengthened. The farmer has...

The markets moved sharply higher on a weaker dollar and solid earnings from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) and a buyout offer for Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE: POT) for $130.00 a share. This started the markets higher and light volume continued to...

Stocks are surging in early trade amid strong earnings reports from Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) along with takeover speculation in the fertilizer space after BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP made an unsolicited bid for Potash (NYSE: POT). The acquisition offer was made at $135 per share...

Osteotech Inc (NASDAQ: OSTE) jumped 63.71% to $6.45 at 10:22 am. Medtronic Inc (NYSE: MDT) has agreed to buy OSTE for about $123 million. Income Opportunity Realty Trust (AMEX: IOT) climbed 26.49% to $5.21. IOT has swung to profit in the second quarter. Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc (NYSE: POT)...

The overall market is higher on the session, bolstered by the plethora of M&A activity we are seeing across multiple sectors today. Currently, the S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) is higher by 13 points, trading at 1,092. Look for resistance at 1,100. Here are your mid-day options volume leaders. 1....

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Inc. (NYSE: POT) Rumor(NYSE: BHP) will have to raise bid $10.00 to $15.00 to get deal done with (POT)..Company could not be reached ..

The fertilizer complex is surging today after BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) made an unsolicited $130 per share takeover bid for Potash (NYSE: POT). Potash's board has rejected the bid as "grossly inadequate," and POT shares have surged 25% to $140.19. Other names are on the move as well, including...

• Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) said it will buy Fremont, California-based storage company 3Par (NYSE: PAR) in an all-cash deal valued at $18 per share, representing an 86% premium over its Friday close • Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) reported second-quarter earnings of $0.58 per share, on revenues of $14.4 billion, vs...

JP Morgan analysts downgraded The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) from Overweight to Neutral. "The stock is approaching our December 2011 price target of $52.00, its trading multiples are now aligned with those of comparables: MOS was trading at 6.1x our 2011 calendar EBITDA estimate, or a 2.5x multiple...

With the U.S. economic outlook pretty much uncertain investors wondered if it is the right time to buy stocks. However, they found little reason to pick up shares and chose to remain on the sidelines, sending trading volume to its lowest of the year. The Dow industrials failed to snap their four-...

• BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) confirmed a bid for Potash (NYSE: POT), valued at $130 per share, or $38.5 billion. • Home Depot (NYSE: HD) announced second quarter results of 72 cents a share, one cent above Zacks estimates, and up from 66 cents a year ago; however, sales up 1.8% to $19.41 billion...

We've had two days in a row of bad housing metrics, weak guidance from Lowe's and not such great data from Home Depot and Walmart, but the dip buyers came in yesterday morning and the Potash news has a bid under the market today.   I said in the weekly summary the best hope for bulls is not that...

Shares of China Green Agriculture, Inc. (NYSE: CGA) are up 2.4% in pre-market trading as the company is getting a bump after Potash (NYSE: POT) received, and ultimately turned down an unsolicited bid from BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) this morning for $130 per share. Shares of China Green Agriculture...

Fertilizer company Potash of Saskatchewan saw its shares jump nearly 30% on Tuesday after the company said Australian mining giant BHP Billiton had made an unsolicited offer to purchase Potash for more than $38 billion in cash. The unsolicited bid by BHP (NYSE: BHP) would value Potash (NYSE: POT)...