(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stocks rallied on Monday as a rise in merger and acquisition activity lifted investor sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 124.17 points or 1.28% to finish at 9,789.36. The S&P 500 rallied 18.60 points or 1.78% to end at 1,062.98. The Nasdaq Composite surged 39.82 points or 1.90% to 2,130.74.
Shares of financials rallied. American Express (NYSE:
AXP) jumped $1.34 or 4.05% to $34.41. Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) surged 35 cents or 2.68% to $17.22. JP Morgan (NYSE:
JPM) climbed $1.16 or 2.66% to $44.81.
Networking giant Cisco (NASDAQ:
CSCO) soared 99 cents or 4.38% to $23.61 on Monday after Barclays Capital equity research upped the company's shares to "overweight" from "equal weight" and raised its target price to $28 from $24.
Alcoa (NYSE:
AA), the largest US aluminum maker, rose 35 cents or 2.68% to $13.43.
Shares of Boeing Co. (NYSE:
BA) rallied $1.55 or 3.01
DuPont Co. (NYSE:
DD) gained 94 cents or 2.96% to $32.68.
Xerox (NYSE:
XRX) on Monday said that it has agreed to buy Affiliated Computer Systems (NYSE:
ACS) for $6.4 billion in cash and stock in order to bolster its position in providing outsourcing services. Shares of Xerox plunged $1.29 or 14.38% to $7.68 while those of Affiliated Computer soared $6.61 or 13.99% to $53.86..
U.S. diversified health care company Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:
JNJ) announced Monday that it has bought an 18 percent stake in biotech firm Crucell (NASDAQ:
CRXL) for 302 million euros ($444 million) as part of a flu vaccine development deal. Johnson & Johnson rose 65 cents or 1.07% to $61.27.
Abbott (NYSE:
ABT) on Monday said that it has agreed to buy Belgian drugs, chemicals and plastics maker Solvay for 4.5 billion euros ($6.6 billion).Shares of Abbott laboratories advanced $1.25 or 2.64% to $48.58.
China Unicom Ltd. announced on Monday that it will begin offering Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:
AAPL) iPhone in China in October at a retail price of around 5,000 yuan ($732). Apple rallied $3.78 or 2.07% to $186.15.
Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (NASDAQ:
CALM) reported Monday that it swung to a fiscal first-quarter net loss of $3.8 million, or 16 cents a share, from a profit of $11.1 million, or 47 cents a share, in the year ago quarter. Quarterly revenue declined 9.3% to $187.7 million. Shares finished at 16 cents or 0.58% to $27.62.
European stocks settled higher. The UK FTSE rose 83.50 points or 1.64% to 5,165.70. The German DAX and French CAC increased 2.78% and 2.30% respectively.
Asian stocks finished down. The Nikkei 225 dropped 256.46 points or 2.50% to 10,009.52. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong fell 435.99 points or 2.07% to 20,588.41.
NYMEX crude oil for November delivery climbed 82 cents or 1.2% to settle at $66.84 a barrel.
Disclosure: Author doesn't own any of the stocks discussed here.
