Stocks surge on Monday with a $39 billion corporate merger leading the way.
Verizon Communications announced its plan to purchase fellow telecommunications
giant T-Mobile USA. Both companies boasted greater than 3% increases in shares
after the announcement. The positive economic news has increased investors
confidence stateside, but turmoil abroad continues to linger. Japanese engineers
succeeded in cooling nuclear reactors over the weekend that overheated as a
result of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan earlier this month. This
positive progress, unfortunately was not the only development over the weekend.
An airstrike on Libyan military targets was initiated by a coalition, including
the U.S. and its allies, this weekend as a measure to subdue Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi. The airstrike , which began on Saturday, continued into Sunday
and included hits to Moammar Gadhafis compound. Oil prices surged by $2 a barrel
as a result of the attack. Investors fear that the conflict in the Middle East
will grow as protesting has spread to other regions. On the economic calendar
for today, The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home
sales dropped in February to an annual rate of 4.88 million, falling below the
anticipated reading of 5.05. Approaching mid day the major market indexes are
all trending in the green. The Dow surged 205.52 points or 1.73% to 12064.04.
The Nasdaq gained 55.59 points or 2.10% to 2698.91. The S&P 500 increased 20.89
points or 1.63% to 1300.09. The Treasuries 10-year yield was up 0.07 to 3.35%.
Oil increased by 0.84 to $101.92 a barrel. The U.S. dollar was up 0.0005 to the
Euro at $1.42. Author: Pamela Frost
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