US: Stocks end mostly higher, boosted by merger activity

WALL Street stocks largely logged gains by the end of Monday (Dec 18), with merger and acquisition (M&A) buzz helping to boost sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 37,306.02, while the broad-based S&P 500 Index rose 0.5 per cent to 4,740.56.

The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.6 per cent to 14,904.81.

“The market is up, but it’s not broadly based, and I think more so due to the M&A that we got this morning,” said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities.

A major development was a deal by Nippon Steel to buy US Steel for US$14.1 billion.

The leading Japanese steelmaker will acquire the company in an all-cash deal at US$55 per share, a 40 per cent premium above its closing price on Friday.

US Steel shares closed 26.1 per cent higher.

“The year-end rally remains in place,” Cardillo said, adding that even as investors should expect a pull-back, this is not likely to be steep.

Another area of support was from “relative strength in mega cap stocks”, noted Briefing.com, referring to companies with large market capitalisations.

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Facebook parent Meta Platforms ended the day 2.9 per cent up, while Google parent Alphabet was 2.5 per cent higher.

Meanwhile, there was a “surge in oil prices due to geopolitical angst related to the understanding that several shipping companies have suspended travel through the Red Sea, including BP”, Briefing.com added.

This came on the back of attacks on vessels by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels. AFP