U.S. stocks advanced, lifting the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a new intraday high, after durable goods orders unexpectedly rose and JBS SA offered to buy Hillshire Brands Co. for $6.4 billion.
Hillshire jumped 22 percent as JBS’s Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. unit made an unsolicited bid for the maker of Jimmy Dean sausages and Ball Park hot dogs. FirstEnergy Corp., NRG Energy Inc. and Exelon Corp. added more than 4 percent to help lead gains in the S&P 500. (SPX) Bank of America Corp. climbed 3.7 percent after resubmitting its capital plan to the Federal Reserve. Small-cap stocksand technology companies extended a recovery from a two-month selloff.
The S&P 500 rallied for a fourth day, increasing 0.5 percent to 1,909.17 at 1:16 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 59 points, or 0.4 percent, to 16,665.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.9 percent and the Russell 2000 Index (RTY) jumped 1.1 percent.
Source: Bloomberg
