Shutdown pact helps stocks set more records

NEW YORK » Hefty gains for energy and technology companies helped U.S. stocks set more records Monday. Drugmakers announced two major deals worth about $20 billion and smallercompany stocks climbed after the Senate reached a shortterm deal to end the government shutdown.

Stocks were slightly higher in the early going as strong fourthquarter results from Halliburton helped energy companies, and big technology companies like Alphabet and Microsoft continued their ascent. Starting at noon, after Senate Democrats said they would support a three-week government funding bill, bond yields increased and smaller-companies shook off their early losses to turn higher.

French drugmaker Sanofi is buying hemophilia treatment maker Bioverativ in a deal the companies valued at $11.6 billion, while Celgene will buy cancer treatment maker Juno Therapeutics for $9 billion. In the financial sector, insurer AIG is buying Validus, a provider of reinsurance, primary insurance, and asset management services, for $5.56 billion.

Marina Severinovsky, an investment strategist at Schroders, said health care companies are likely to find more money for deals because the Republican-backed tax package gave the companies a one-time tax break on money they’ve been keeping overseas. Meanwhile AIG’s big purchase is a sign of how far the company has come since the federal government bailed it out almost a decade ago.

“AIG became synonymous with this $180 billion bailout and here they are making a deal with cash,” said Severinovsky. “We’ve got a pretty healthy global economy and companies are more willing to take a risk than they have been in recent years.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 22.67 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,832.97. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 142.88 points, or 0.5 percent, to 26,214.60. The Nasdaq composite added 71.65 points, or 1 percent, to 7,408.03. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gained 7.54 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,605.17.