U.S. Stocks Rise Amid Takeovers as Caterpillar Beats Estimates
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U.S. stocks rallied, almost wiping out this year’s decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, amid takeover deals, higher-than-estimated earnings at Caterpillar Inc. and progress in talks to tame Europe’s debt crisis.
Gauges of commodity, financial and technology shares had the biggest gains in the S&P 500 among 10 groups, rising at least 1.9 percent. Caterpillar, the largest construction and mining-equipment maker, climbed 5 percent. RightNow Technologies Inc. surged 19 percent, while Healthspring Inc. soared 34 percent, on acquisitions. Alcoa Inc. added 3.4 percent as metals advanced on signs of growth in China and Japan.