Shares of pharmacy benefits mangers Express Scripts Inc. and Medco Health Solutions Inc. both rose higher than the broader market Tuesday morning, a day after the companies said they now expect their combination to close early in the second quarter.

THE SPARK: Express Scripts and Medco said Monday after markets closed that they expected their deal to be completed "by the earlier part of the second quarter," which begins in April. The companies had previously said they expected their $29.1 billion combination to close in the first half of this year, a longer time frame that runs through June.

The companies said they agreed with the Federal Trade Commission not to close the deal Monday, even though a 30-day waiting period required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act had expired. The waiting period started after the companies complied with a second request for information from the FTC, and they were free to close the deal if they had not heard back from regulators by the time it expired.