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By The Skanner News | The Skanner News
Published: 29 September 2009

NEW YORK (AP) -- Corporate dealmaking is boosting investors' hopes for a recovery in the economy.

Stocks jumped Monday after Abbott Laboratories said it would buy the pharmaceutical business of Belgian chemicals maker Solvay for $6.6 billion and Xerox Corp. agreed to acquire Affiliated Computer Services for about $6.4 billion.
A weaker dollar is boosting commodity prices, which in turn helped send materials and energy stocks higher.
All major indexes rose more than 1 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which added 140 points.
The takeover moves are a welcome sign that businesses have enough faith in a recovery in the economy to pursue acquisitions. In the past year, companies grew so worried about the economy that they were hesitant to part with cash and often had trouble lining up financing.
"It's encouraging to all investors when you see companies buy because basically what that says is they're in a more aggressive mode as opposed to being in the fetal position," said Mark Coffelt, portfolio manager at Empiric Funds in Austin, Texas.
In midday trading, the Dow rose 140.12, or 1.5 percent, to 9,805.31.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 18.75, or 1.8 percent, to 1,063.13, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 46.30, or 2.2 percent, to 2,137.22.
The market's rise follows its worst week since early July.
Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.33 percent from 3.32 percent late Friday.
The dollar mostly fell against other currencies, while gold prices rose.
Abbott Labs rose $1.66, or 3.5 percent, to $48.99. Affiliated Computer jumped $5.94, or 12.6 percent, to $53.19, while Xerox fell $1.58, or 17.6 percent, to $7.39.
Johnson & Johnson Inc. bought an 18 percent stake in Dutch biotechnology company Crucell NV for $440 million in hopes of developing a universal flu vaccine, the companies said. J&J rose 76 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $61.38.
Crude rose $1.14 to $67.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the dollar slid. Commodities are priced in dollars so a weak greenback makes them more appealing to foreign buyers.
More than four stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 343.6 million shares compared with 431.6 million shares traded at the same point Friday. Trading was light as some market participants were out for Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 14.21, or 2.4 percent, to 613.15.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.5 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.4 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 2.3 percent, and France's CAC-40 advanced 1.8 percent.

 


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