Stocks in the News: BP, OSI Pharma, Prudential

The following is a round-up of news likely to affect stock prices today:

BP (BP) said it made a breakthrough in controlling oil gushing from a well in the Gulf of Mexico, as it inserted a mile-long tube into the the broken pipe to start capturing some of the oil flowing out. But U.S. officials said the effort is a stop-gap measure and increased pressure on the company to do more.

Astellas Pharma (ALPMY) agreed to buy OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP) for $4 billion in cash, raising its bid by 11% to $57.50 a share. OSI has the world's fourth best-selling lung cancer medicine and a U.S. sales force for oncology drugs. Ending several months of a hostile takeover battle, both boards approved the new bid, which is 3.8% less than OSI's last-traded price. OSI shares dropped over 4% in premarket trading.

Lowe's Corp. (LOW) reported results that handily beat estimates, but shares fell over 2% ahead of the bell on weak second quarter outlook.

Prudential (PUK) on Monday announced a rights issue to raise £14.5 billion ($20.9 billion) to help finance its $35.5 billion acquisition of the Asia-based life insurer AIA Group from bailed-out U.S. insurance firm AIG (AIG).

Universal Health Services (UHS) said Monday that it will buy Psychiatric Solutions (PSYS) for about $2 billion in cash in a deal worth approximately $3.1 billion. UHS will pay $33.75 per share, which is a 3.4% premium over PSYS's Friday closing price. UHS shares rose 3.7% and PSYS shares were up 2.3% before the bell.

Man Group agreed to buyGLG Partners (GLG) for $1.6 billion to reduce its reliance on a single trading program and expand its range of funds. GLG's shareholders will receive $4.50 in cash for each share, 55% more than the firm's closing price on Friday. GLG shares soared over 37% ahead of the bell.

Walt Disney's (DIS) Iron Man 2 was the top-grossing movie in U.S. and Canadian theaters for a second weekend with ticket sales of $53 million. General Electric's (GE) Universal Pictures' Robin Hood opened in second place with $37.1 million.

Pactiv (PTV) is in talks with Apollo Global Management about a leveraged deal, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Sirius XM Radio(SIRI) said Monday it's lifting its 2010 adjusted sales target to $2.75 billion. The company now expects net subscriber additions for the full year to be approximately 750,000 and free cash flow for 2010 to exceed $100 million. SIRI shares jumped some 5.6% in premarket trading.

FirstMerit (FMER) has started a public offering of $315 million shares of its common stock. Shares of FirstMerit closed Friday at $21.24.