Wave of deals lifts U.S. stocks higher

U.S. stocks rose Monday as investors were cheered by a spate of corporate dealmaking over the weekend. Technology companies made the biggest gains. But investors were doubtful that the biggest deal, AT&T’s agreement to buy Time Warner, will happen.

Companies announced almost $100 billion in deals over the last few days. Investors had mixed reactions to the moves, but they were pleased the companies were willing to spend.

“Any time you see a lot of IPOs, a lot of merger activity, it boosts confidence,” said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior markets strategist for Voya Investment Strategies.

Big-name technology companies including Apple and Alphabet, which owns Google, rose ahead of reporting their earnings this week. Amazon also rose, giving other consumer companies a boost. Energy firms slipped with the price of oil.

Tech stocks have done very well over the last few months; that could continue as more companies report their earnings. S&P Global Market Intelligence says analysts think earnings for tech companies will grow 6% in the third quarter. Overall earnings for companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index are expected to rise less than 1%.

Microsoft, which is trading at all-time highs after strong earnings last week, rose 2.2% to $61. Alphabet advanced 1.4% to $835.74 and Apple ticked up 0.9% to $117.65.

Benchmark U.S. crude slipped 33 cents to $50.52 a barrel; earlier in the session, it was down more than 2%. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 32 cents to $51.46 a barrel.

Wireless carrier T-Mobile jumped 9.6% to $51.19 after reporting better-than-expected results and raising its forecasts for new customers. It hadn’t traded above $50 a share since October 2007.

Consumer companies also did better than the broader market. Amazon picked up 2.3% to $838.09 and PepsiCo rose 1.6% to $107.31.

Kimberly-Clark fell 4.7% to $113.91 after reporting its biggest loss in more than a year. The maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues reported weak results for the quarter and cut its annual sales forecast. The stock reached all-time highs in early July but has fallen 17% since then.

The dollar rose to 104.24 yen from 103.85 yen. The euro rose to $1.0879 from $1.0871.

Bond prices slipped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.76% from 1.74%.

Wholesale gasoline slipped 3 cents to $1.50 a gallon. Heating oil remained at $1.58 a gallon. Natural gas sank 16 cents, or 5.4%, to $2.83 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold fell $4 to $1,263.70 an ounce. Silver rose 1 cent to $17.60 an ounce. Copper remained at $2.09 a pound.