Stocks end with gains after day of turmoil

Stocks ended the day mostly higher after indexes were roiled by the good news of a possible merger in the health care industry and with bad news from Bank of America.

At the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 87.3 points, or about 0.5 percent, at 16,448.7. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,869.4. The Nasdaq composite edged down 1.2 points, or 0.03 percent, to 4,074.4. By the close, the index had erased most of a 61 point loss earlier in the day.

Pfizer rose 4 percent after renewing its push to buy rival drugmaker AstraZeneca for a reported $100 billion.

Bank of America slid 6 percent after a financial error forced the bank to suspend plans to increase its dividend and buy back more of its stock.