NEW YORK - Another wave of corporate dealmaking carried stocks sharply higher Monday.
Major stock indexes rose more than 1 percent in midday trading on the French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA, announced plans to buy health care products company Chattem Inc. for $ 1.9 billion, and mining equipment maker Bucyrus International Inc. said it will buy Terex Corp. ' s Mining Equipment division for $ 1.3 billion. Meanwhile Dutch car maker Spyker Cars, submitted a new offer to buy the Saab from the General Motors Co..
Phil Orlando, chief equity market Strategist at Federated Investors, said the flurry of corporate deal activity is giving the stock market a major boost of confidence.
"Companies are using their cash to go out and make some strategic acquisitions," Orlando said. "They believe the economy has bottomed and will continue to improve."
Aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. was the Biggest Gainer of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, jumping more than 9 percent after an analyst upgrade and the announcement of an $ 11 billion joint venture deal in Saudi Arabia.
An upgrade of chip maker Intel Corp. helped boost technology stocks, adding Thurs gains from Friday that followed upbeat earnings reports from business software company Oracle Corp. and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd..
Trading is Likely to be volatile this week as investors take vacation ahead of the Christmas holiday on Friday. Stock market volume has been thinning out since November, as many investors step back from the market following a historic rally in stocks over the past nine months. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is still up 23.5 percent for the year.
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