Summary The biggest deal was NXP Semiconductor's $16.7 billion purchase of Freescale Semiconductor
NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks rose early Monday following a stream of merger announcements, including a $16.7 billion acquisition in the semiconductor sector.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18,220.03, up 87.33 points (0.48 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 5.74 (0.27 percent) at 2,110.24, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 28.65 (0.58 percent) to 4,992.18.
The biggest deal was NXP Semiconductor s $16.7 billion purchase of Freescale Semiconductor, linking two big manufacturers of chips used in cars. NXP jumped 13.8 percent, while Freescale gained 9.3 percent.
Aruba Networks, which specializes in information technology for wireless networks, dropped 1.6 percent on news it will be acquired by tech giant Hewlett-Packard in a $3 billion deal. HP rose 0.1 percent.
Analysts also said investors were cheered by China s interest rates cut over the weekend, with the People s Bank of China slashing a quarter percentage point, citing"historically low inflation" as a factor.
Cardinal Health, which sells medical and surgical products, rose 2.4 percent as it announced plans to acquire Johnson & Johnson s Cordis business, which makes cardiology and endovascular devices, for $1.9 billion. Dow member J&J rose 0.5 percent.
Visa, another Dow component, gained 1.7 percent as it and Costco Wholesale announced a new venture whereby Visa and Citigroup will be the exclusive issuer of Costco credit cards, replacing American Express. Costco rose 0.6 percent, while Citi added 0.7 percent.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.01 percent from 2.00 percent, while the 30-year advanced to 2.61 percent from 2.60 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
