Wall Street hits record high as investors anticipate mergers

US STOCKS climbed to record highs on Monday, helped by optimism about merger activity and as investors bet that a Republican plan to cut corporate taxes would bolster earnings.

Qualcomm rose 1.15% after Broadcom offered to buy the smartphone chip supplier for $103 billion in what could be the biggest- ever acquisition in the tech sector. Broadcom added 1.42%.

“The fact that the deal is on the table is huge,” said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management. “We have not seen much in the way of dealmaking this year. So this might jumpstart some of the dealmaking ahead of the tax policy changes.”

Twenty- First Century Fox surged 9.93% after CNBC reported that the film and television conglomerate has held talks to sell most of the company to media giant Walt Disney Co. Disney shares rose 2.02%.

Investor optimism was also fueled by a Republican proposal last week to slash the corporate tax rate to 20% from 35% and end some tax breaks for companies and individuals.

“I think that has to be the main driver,” said John Brady, managing director at R.J. O’Brien & Associates in Chicago. “Even if it only goes to 25% or 27%, it’s still moving the right way.”

Apple rose 1.01% and contributed more than any other stock to the benchmark S&P 500 index’s gain.

Shares of Sprint slumped 11.54% to a more than one-year low after the wireless provider and T-Mobile called off a planned merger. T-Mobile lost 5.72%.

All three major indices closed at record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.04% to end at 23,548.42, while the S& P 500 gained 0.13% to 2,591.13. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.33% to 6,786.44.

The S& P 500 energy index surged 2.20% on gains in crude prices after the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, tightened his grip on power through an anti- corruption purge.

With more than 400 of S& P 500 companies having reported, earnings for the third quarter are expected to have climbed eight percent, compared with expectations of a 5.90% rise at the start of October, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Up 15% in 2017, the S&P 500 is trading at about 18 times expected earnings, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1.41 to one; on Nasdaq, a 1.17to-1 ratio favored advancers.

About 6.60 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, above the 6.40 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. —