U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index poised for a sixth day of gains. Bloomberg has reported that the S&P 500 advanced 3.7 percent in the past six days and is now 0.4 percent below its record high reached April 2. The index has added 1.9 percent in 2014. The Dow average is at its highest level since April 3 and within 20 points of its all-time closing high set December 31.
According to Bloomberg News, Allergan surged 16 percent after Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. offered to merge with the maker of the Botox wrinkle treatment. Allergan jumped 16 percent to $164.15 after Valeant proposed to buy the company for around $152.89 a share. Valeant gained 4%. Valeant is in the second week of an advance off an April 8 low.
According to Yahoo News, Netflix soared 6.9 percent after saying it expects to increase prices for new its customers. Harley-Davidson Inc. added 7.9 percent after its earnings release. Existing home sales eased a notch, according to the National Association of Realtors, moving at an annualized pace of 4.59 million in March.
Michael James, a Los Angeles-based managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc, shared in a phone interview; “Sentiment had gotten too negative, and some decent earnings reports have started helping the market.” He said according to Bloomberg News, “That combined with the positive deal talk and chatter in health care, gives a better tone to the market overall and certainly some support.”
A Chief investment officer at Habib Bank AG, David Wartenweiler, said by telephone from Zurich, “With earnings, companies have been downgrading expectations heading into the season, so it looks like we’ll surprise more to the upside.” According to Dallas News, Wartenweiler said that, “On M&A, CEOs are doing what they should be doing. They’re looking at their portfolios and trying to benefit from opportunities. That should be a tailwind for markets.”
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