Stocks were up and the price of oil was down in late-morning trading Wednesday on renewed hopes of a ceasefire in Iran.

In company news, Merck (MRK) has agreed to acquire Terns Pharmaceuticals (TERN) for $53 per share in cash, valuing the company at about $6.7 billion, the companies said Wednesday. The acquisition will add TERN-701, an investigational oral drug in phase 1/2 development for chronic myeloid leukemia, to Merck's hematology pipeline, the companies said. The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close in Q2, subject to a shareholder tender and regulatory approvals, the companies said. Merck shares were up 2.3% around midday, while Terns shares were up 5.6%.

Meta Platforms (META) will lay off a few hundred workers across the company on Wednesday, The Information reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. The cuts will impact Meta's hardware platforms and wearables division -- Reality Labs -- as well as its social media teams, recruiting operations and a smaller figure in sales, the report said. Separately, the chief executive and the chief scientist of Singapore-based Manus have been barred from leaving China as the National Development and Reform Commission is reviewing whether Meta's $2 billion acquisition of the company violates Beijing's investment rules, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing three people familiar with the matter. Lastly, Arm Holdings (ARM) expects "material revenue" from its first in-house chip of roughly $15 billion in 2031, Chief Financial Officer Jason Child said late Tuesday, according to a FactSet transcript. Arm unveiled its AGI CPU Tuesday, which was developed alongside Meta, its lead partner. Meta shares were up 0.9%, while Arm shares were up 18.3%.

Barclays (BCS) is pulling back on asset-based lending to smaller borrowers following the collapses of Market Financial Solutions and Tricolor Holdings, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The bank is shifting its focus to securitizations and loans for larger corporate clients, the people reportedly said. Barclays shares were up 2%.

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned an appeals court ruling upholding a lower court ruling that found Cox Communications liable for copyright infringement in a suit brought by Sony Group's (SONY) Sony Music Entertainment. Sony shares were up 0.1%.

SanDisk (SNDK) said Wednesday its subsidiary has agreed to invest about $1 billion in Nanya Technology through a private placement of common stock. SanDisk shares were down 5.6%.

Price: 119.28, Change: +2.91, Percent Change: +2.50