Stocks Rise on Buyout News

Stocks moved sharply higher to start off the week after new merger
and acquisition activity. Today’s M&A deals took place in a wide
variety of market sectors. These included oil drilling, equipment
rental, and technology. Better-than-expected earnings from Merck
and Schering-Plough also helped the indices move higher.

Crude oil futures for August delivery fell
1.2% to $74.89 a barrel after reports came out that OPEC may
increase output to meet global demands.  Gold futures for
August delivery fell 0.5% to $681.50 an ounce.


Around Europe, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.9% to 7,944.21, France’s
CAC 40 index gained 0.9% to 6,009.16, and Britain’s FTSE 100 index
added 0.6% to 6,624.40.

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Stocks in Motion

GlobalSantaFe
(
GSF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, Transocean
(
RIG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Agree
To $53 Bln Merger (full story). GSF shares added 5.7%, while RIG shares gained
6.3%.

HP
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Agrees To Buy Opsware
(
OPSW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
For About $1.6
Bln, Neoware
(
NWRE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
For About $214 Mln (full
story
). HPQ shares rose 0.2%, OPSW shares jumped 36%, and NWRE shares gained
3.5%.

Strong Product Sales Lift Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q2 Profit By 12%, Boosts
FY07 EPS Target (full
story
). MRK shares jumped 7%.

Schering-Plough
(
SGP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q2 Profit More
Than Doubles On Top Line Growth; Expects Organon Acquisition To Close By End Of
Year (full
story
). SGP shares ended higher by 0.3%.

Halliburton
(
HAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q2 Profit More Than Doubles; EPS From Cont. Ops
Beats Estimate; Revenue Up 20% (full
story
). HAL shares rose 3.4%.

For more stories as they happen, go to our
Breaking News section.

 


Market Snapshot

Dow

+92.34 13,943.42

NASDAQ

+2.98 2,690.58

S&P 500

+7.47 1,541.57

 

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

3,014,653,000 2,024,531,000

Advances

1585 1383

Declines

1652 1649

Up Volume

1577 969

Down Volume

1211 986

New Highs

181 149

New Lows

165 136


Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Nasdaq Telecom Index (IXTCX) Natural Gas Index (XNG)
Pharmaceuticals Index (DRG) CBOE Internet Sector Index (INX)
Computer Technology Index (XCI) S&P Retail Index (RLX)


 


Economic
News

No economic reports released
today.

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com

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