ECONOMY & MARKETS

Shares of Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ) touched a new 52-week high of $75.90 on Monday. The biotechnology firm's board has unanimously recommended to its shareholders to accept the latest sweetened offer from French drug giant Sanofi-Aventis SA (NYSE: SNY) and to tender their shares into the revised offer.

YouTube has acquired start up Next New Networks for undisclosed terms that could help YouTube create more original content of its own.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Monday, led by declines from technology shares after Wells Fargo downgraded the semiconductors sector.

Shares of TomoTherapy Inc. (NASDAQ: TOMO) touched a new 52-week high of $4.70 on Monday after it agreed to be acquired by Accuray Inc. (NASDAQ: ARAY) for $4.80 a share in cash and stock or a total of about $277 million.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: BroadSoft, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Atrinsic, RAM Energy Resources, and ChinaCache International Holdings. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Urban Outfitters, Casey's General Stores, Exelixis, AirMedia Group, and Perfect World.

There are no good outcomes, only bad, really bad, and catastrophic. Take your pick. Could gas prices drop below $3.00 per gallon if the world sinks back into recession? Yes. But it would only be momentary. The easy to access supply is dwindling. The medium and long term direction of gas at the pump is up. There is nothing that can be done in the next five years to prevent significantly higher oil prices.

The market doesn't seem to care about the European debt crisis right now.

Recently, the US dollar has lost ground against most G10 currencies, including the euro, despite fears over the Middle East revolts.

U.S. stocks turned lower on Monday, led by declines from technology and consumer-discretionary companies as oil prices remained near $105-a-barrel amid ongoing political tensions in Libya

The Gold Price rose new all-time highs vs. a falling US Dollar on Monday morning in London, hitting almost $1445 per ounce as European stock markets held flat and major-economy government bonds slipped, nudging interest rates up.

Gold climbed to a record high above $1,440 an ounce on Monday as the threat of violence spreading in the Middle East and North Africa pushed oil prices to 2-1/2 year highs and burnished the metal's safe-haven appeal.

Western Digital said it agreed to buy Hitachi, Ltd.'s (NYSE:HIT) Global Storage Technologies unit for $4.3 billion in a cash and stock deal.

Pent-up demand has resulted in a surge in Iraqi stocks due to political gains and lifting of UN sanctions, says investment management company Global Capital Investments.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded Greek credit rating on Monday, further roiling European credit markets and signaling the possibility of the debt-hit nation opting for a debt restructuring.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: TomoTherapy, Geomet, RAM Energy Resources, James River Coal, and Seagate Technology. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Repligen, CIENA, JDS Uniphase, News Corp., and SanDisk.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Monday are: Family Dollar Stores, Lorillard, Frontier Communications, Ameren, PNC Financial Services, MetLife, Novellus Systems, Novellus Systems, Marshall & Ilsley and Pfizer.

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) said it has closed its acquisition of news and opinion site The Huffington Post, creating a premier content network with local, national and international reach.

U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has exclusive authority under the Natural Gas Act to authorize the siting of facilities for imports or exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to FBR Capital Markets.

Shares of Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) touched a new 52-week high of $45 on Friday. The compay said March 1 that it still predicts first quarter sales to decline 1 percent to 5 percent sequentially.

Shares of EXFO Inc (NASDAQ: EXFO) touched a new 52-week high of $12.86 on Friday. The company said it extends its optical transport network testing capabilities to qualify 100G/40G Ethernet client services.

Blackberry maker Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) said its chief marketing officer Keith Pardy will be leaving in six months, just weeks ahead of its PlayBook tablet launch.

Zurich-based travel group Kuoni Reisen Holding AG announced an agreement to acquire Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA) for $720 million from New York-based Travelport to boost its online offerings.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday as a spike in oil prices (driven by deepening unrest in Libya) overshadowed a strong February jobs report.

Asian stock markets declined first time in three days on Monday as sentiment was dampened by higher oil prices amid continuing political unrest in the Middle East.

Nervous analysts have worried for years that the stellar stock prices of technology giants Apple Inc and Google Inc could tumble back to earth.

Shares of Union Drilling, Inc. (NASDAQ: UDRL) and Bronco Drilling Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: BRNC) touched a new 52-week high of $10.35 each on Friday. The onshore drillers reported a narrower loss for the fourth quarter on strong drilling activity.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) reported positive interim results on March 2 from a Phase 2 two-part study of 'telaprevir' combination therapy for treatment of hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus, also known as HCV-HIV co-infection. The shares of the drugmaker touched a new 52-week high of $51.10 on Friday.

Hong Kong stocks edged lower on Monday as higher oil prices weighed but a buoyant day in Shanghai shielded the market from bigger declines and underscored the growing optimism for Chinese shares.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday as a spike in oil prices (driven by deepening unrest in Libya) overshadowed a strong February jobs report.