Mergers and acquisitions momentum has driven the markets today. Four big deals were initiated : Bank of New York and Mellon Financial ; LSI Logic and Agere Systems ; Pilgrim’s Pride and Gold Kist ; and Station Casinos got a buyout offer from a group including its chairman for $4.7 billion.
These M&As helped to offset bad news from Pfizer . The company saw drops after it announced it would stop development of torceptrapib – the potential successor to blockbuster Lipitor.
With an hour left in trading – the Dow was up over 100 points to 12,297.79. The Nasdaq was seeing life in the semiconductor sector after the Agere Systems-LSI announcement. That index was up 41.83 to 2,455.04. The S&P 500 climbed 14.20 to 1,410.91.
Transports slipped this afternoon – after Landstar lowered its guidance, blaming a slowing economy.
Oil was down 99 cents to $62.44. The five-year bond was basically unchanged at 4.387%.