In Europe on Tuesday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.3 percent higher to 1,522.27.
The airline sector was higher on news from mergers and acquisitions, as well as on recent broker upgrades and recent lower oil prices. Lufthansa was 1.8 percent higher to €21.76 and Iberia of Spain gained 2.3 percent to €3.17. Ryanair added 8 percent to €11.12. Air France-KLM was up 7.2 percent to €35.01 after it said that the time was not right for it to bid on more shares in Alitalia. It already has a strategic partnership with the Italian air carrier. Alitalia was not lacking for suitors however, as it has received expressions of interest from 11 potential bidders. The Italian airline added 3.6 percent on the session to €1.13.
In the pharmaceuticals sector, Sanofi-Aventis dropped 0.7 percent to €68.55 even though rumors continued to circulate that it is near the announcement of a merger with US pharma Bristol-Myers Squibb. The decline came as analysts at Bear Sterns said that the large amount of cash that would have to be part of the deal in order for Bristol-Myers to accept a deal could dilute earnings. However Bear Sterns and Deutsche Bank both said that there would be advantages to such a deal.
The telecommunications sector was mixed. Deutsche Telekom dropped 0.1 percent to €13.59, but France Telecom added 0.5 percent to €21.29 and Telecom Italia gained 0.7 percent to €2.29.