US: Stocks rise on FedEx, Informatica deals

[NEW YORK] US stocks opened higher on Tuesday following a large FedEx acquisition deal and an announcement that data services company Informatica would go private.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,936.74, up 55.89 points (0.31 per cent).

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 4.74 (0.23 per cent) to 2,085.36, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 16.18 (0.33 per cent) at 4,933.49.

Delivery service company FedEx rose 3.3 per cent as it announced it would buy Dutch rival TNT Express for 4.4 billion euros (S$6.56 billion), giving it a big foothold in Europe.

Informatica, which provides data integration software and services to companies, surged 4.5 per cent after it announced it would be acquired by a company controlled by private-equity firm Permira and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board for about US$5.3 billion.

AFP