2 rumors lighting up trading screens today

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Stocks closed higher Tuesday as Fed Chair Jerome Powell avoided discussing monetary policy at his first public appearance of the new year. Amid the upside, several rumors made their way across Wall Street. Below we highlighted a couple.

Franchise Group (NASDAQ:FRG) gained nearly 1% on reports from the WSJ that the firm that owns Vitamin Shoppe, is considering going private in a management buyout. Managers could pay a price of between $30 to $35 per share. Separately Franchise Group is eyeing a potential deal to acquire furniture chain Conn’s (NASDAQ:CONN), the report said.

Activist investor Bluebell Capital Partners has reportedly built a stake in Bayer AG (ETR:BAYGN) (OTC:BAYRY) and is urging a breakup, Bloomberg News reported. The development follows news on Monday that another activist investor, Jeff Ubben, has built a 0.8% stake and wants the company to hire an external CEO. The ADRs gained over 6% today.

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