News that Burlington-based LabCorp and Raleigh-based INC Research are possibly talking about a merger has ignited little excitement on Wall Street.

Bloomberg news reported the talks on Monday afternoon, citing unnamed sources.

Investors immediately drove up INC (Nasdaq: INCR) by some 16 percent. But by the close, shares were up only slightly.

And on Tuesday, shares actually traded down 1.5 percent in afternoon trading.

LabCorp (NYSE: LH) was up only slightly.

Bloomberg said LabCorp is looking to “solidify its position as the biggest diagnostics company in the U.S.”

The news service cited “people with knowledge of the matter.”

“Talks are preliminary, and the companies may choose not to proceed with a transaction, said the people, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private,” Bloomberg added.

INC has a market value of some $2.7 billion.

LabCorp is worth more than $12 billion.

Two years ago, LabCorp acquired Covance in a deal worth $6 billion, moving beyond its traditional business of lab testing into clinical testing.

INC focuses on clinical trials.

For more, see the full story at:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-18/labcorp-said-to-have-held-talks-with-testing-firm-inc-research?cmpid=yhoo.headline