The U.S. stock indexes started May's trading on a healthy note following the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.43 percent, or 54.87 points, to trade at 12,865.41. The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. composite index added 0.44 percent, or 12.66 points, to trade at 2,886.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 gained 0.44 percent, or 6.27 points, to trade at 1,369.08.
Hot Stocks of the Day: ACI, ICO, DISH, SATS, TIVO, TEVA, CEPH, INFY, GOOG, JNJ
Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) is set to acquire rival International Coal Group Inc. (NYSE: ICO) for nearly $3.4 billion. Shares of Arch gained 0.20 percent, or 6 cents, to trade at $34.36; and ICO's shares jumped 30.64 percent, or $3.38, to trade at $14.41.
Dish Network Corp. (Nasdaq: DISH) and EchoStar Corp. (Nasdaq: SATS) plan to pay $500 million to settle all legal disputes with TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO). Dish's shares jumped 14.22 percent, or $3.60, to trade at $28.65. Shares of EchoStar were down 3.34 percent, or $1.24, to trade at $35.84. TiVo's shares gained 6.27 percent, or 61 cents, to trade at $10.18.
Shares of Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA) gained 2.71 percent, or $1.23, to trade at $46.91 as it intends to acquire Cephalon Inc. (Nasdaq: CEPH) for $6.8 billion. Shares of Cephalon added 4.97 percent, or $3.83, to trade at $80.86.
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: INFY) gained 0.61 percent, or 40 cents, to trade at $65.57 in the morning session. The company has made major changes in its executive ranks, with KV Kamath being named as the new chairman of the board, and SD Shibulal as the new CEO.
Shares of Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) fell 0.40 percent, or $2.17, to trade at $542 despite being named number one in Harris Interactive's annual poll of corporate reputations. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) occupied the second position. Shares of J&J added 0.41 percent, or 27 cents, to trade at $65.99.