CREDIT SUISSE

Asian stock markets advanced Tuesday, recovering from their biggest fall in six months in the previous session on concerns over election results in France and Greek.

Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social network, has decided to pitch its initial public offering of 337.4 million shares at $35 apiece, which could raise as much as $13.6 billion, assuming over-allotment options.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis International AG / Sandoz (NYSE: NVS) announced Wednesday it would acquire Melville, N.Y.-based Fougera Pharmaceuticals for $1.5 billion in cash.The deal makes Sandoz, Novartis's generics drug division, the world's largest maker of generic dermatological drugs.

Gold prices rose towards $1,650 an ounce on Thursday after the Federal Reserve opted to keep U.S. interest rates at rock bottom, taking further support from the foreign exchange market as the dollar languished against a basket of major currencies.

Mergers and acquisitions are proliferating globally as low interest rates, large cash piles and depressed asset prices create opportunities for expanding market share and restructuring.

Gold prices slid below $1,630 an ounce on Monday as concerns that the euro zone debt crisis could ensnare higher-rated countries hurt the single currency, though moves were muted ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade Monday are: Ardea Biosciences, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Savient Pharmaceuticals, Amarin Corp, DR Horton, Achillion Pharmaceuticals, SGOCO Group, Kellogg Co, Wal-Mart Stores and United States Steel Corp.

Shares of security software specialist Proofpoint (Nasdaq: PFPT) jumped as much as 31 percent in the first few minutes of trading after their initial public offering.

Splunk (Nasdaq: SPLK), which developed software to permit enterprise analysis of so-called “Big Data,” saw its shares skyrocket nearly 90 percent in its initial public offering.

Human Genome Sciences Inc has rejected an unsolicited bid worth around $2.6 billion from long-time partner GlaxoSmithKline Plc, marking a new takeover battle in a drugs sector that has been swept by M&A recently.

Volkswagen AG's luxury brand Audi is prepared to buy Italian superbike maker Ducati Motor Holding SpA for roughly €860 million ($1.12 billion) including debt, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Analysts expect quarterly revenue of $19.85 billion, which would be a bump up from the $19.73 billion Citi posted a year ago. Net income is expected to be 99 cents a share, compared with $1 a share in the first quarter of 2011.

Gold eased for a second consecutive day on Thursday, but was still set for its largest weekly gain in six weeks, thanks to the toll the re-emergence of the euro zone debt crisis has taken on investor risk appetite.

Splunk Inc., a developer of software that helps companies analyze data, plans to sell 13.5 million shares for $8 to $10 in its initial public offering.

The top after-market NASDAQ gainers Monday were: Complete Genomics, Affymetrix, MCG Capital Corp, Urban Outfitters, Oncothyreon and Ctrip.com International. The top after-market NASDAQ losers were: Zoltek Companies, Nortek, Cavium, Team, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and ArthroCare Corp.