NEW YORK, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks surged Tuesday on booming mergers and acquisitions, bringing the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock Index closer to their all-time highs.
The Dow soared 53.91 points, or 0.39 percent, to 14,035.67, less than 1 percent below its historical high set in October 2007. The S&P 500 surged 11.15 points, or 0.73 percent, to 1,530.94, 2.2 percent below its all-time high. The Nasdaq Composite index leapt 21.56 points, or 0.68 percent, to 3,213.59.
Shares of Office Depot and OfficeMax climbed 9.37 percent to 5. 02 dollars and 20.93 percent to 13.00 dollars, respectively, on Tuesday after the two rival office-supply chains were reportedly in talks for a merger to create a stationery giant to compete with the current no. 1 Staples.
M&A activities posted an impressive performance, with announced amounts surpassing 158 billion U.S. dollars since the beginning of 2013, which reflected investors' positive attitudes toward economic prospects.
H.J. Heinz, a famous ketchup maker, said last Thursday that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital would buy the company in 23 billion dollars.
AMR Corporation, the parent company of American, and U.S. Airways announced Thursday that the boards of directors of both companies had unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which the companies would combine to create a premier global carrier.
Besides, a survey showed Tuesday that German investor confidence in February rose to a nearly three-year high, signaling Europe's largest economy seemed to be recovering from its slide, also bolstering Wall Street.
U.S. President Barack Obama renewed pressure on congressional Republicans to avoid budget cuts starting from March 1. The market was watching closely what would be going on about the so-called sequester, across-the-board spending cuts for the United States.
On the economic front, U.S. Housing Market Index dipped one point to 46, slightly lower than January's unchanged figure of 47, the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo Housing Market said Tuesday in a joint report.
Shares of Dell moved up slightly in after-hours trading after the personal computer maker reported a better-than-expected profit in the fourth quarter after the closing bell.
The U.S. dollar slightly strengthened against major currencies on Tuesday, the first trading day after the Group of Twenty meeting concluded on Saturday.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery gained 80 cents, or 0.83 percent, to settle at 96.66 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.
Brent crude for April delivery added 14 cents, or 0.12 percent, to settle at 117.52 dollars a barrel on Tuesday.
Gold future for April delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday fell 5.3 dollars, or 0.33 percent, to settle at 1,604.2 dollars per ounce.
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