Mergers and acquisitions are starting to be a sign of the times. An unexpected decline in wholesale inventories wasn’t enough to put the markets in the red in early trading, thanks to a slew of M&A deals in the biotechnology and financial sectors.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) is going to buy Facet Biotech Corp. (FACT) for $450 million. Abbott’s bid bested a failed bid from Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB). The move would add immunology and oncology to Abbott’s repertoire. These deals signal more than just the health of aspects of the biotech sector; it’s a sign of renewed confidence in the economic recovery. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more deals in this and other sectors take place in the coming months. iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (IBB) is up about 1% this morning.

If you’re one of those folks who believes in the concept of a “regression to the mean,” then you had a rationale in 2008 for why Dow 14000 would crater below Dow 10000. Similarly, you had reason to expect that stocks with P/Es above 20 would eventually work their way back to long-term averages of 16.

What you rarely heard, however, was a term to describe the opposite phenomenon. In other words, when the Dow fell to 6500… when P/Es were in the single digits by March of 2009… why weren’t the same folks talking about a “PROgression” back to the mean?

The European Union has agreed upon a deal to help Greece out of its financial troubles, which could avert a contagion effect across the 16-nation bloc. The news, while scant on details, was enough to push stocks and exchange traded funds into positive territory.

The 16 nations that make up the European Union are joining forces to help Greece stave off further economic blows. Marcin Grajewski and Julien Toyer for Reuters say that although the details are still up in the air, the bloc’s leaders suggested it could include some form of loans to Greece to help it service its debt and avoid a damaging default. Europe’s ETFs are negative today. The SPDR DJ Euro Stoxx 50 (NYSEArca: FEZ) is down 0.7% so far today.