Categories: U.S. Investing

U.S. Stocks Inch Upward as Small-Cap Shares Gain Amid Deals

U.S. Stocks Inch Upward as Small-Cap Shares Gain Amid Deals (Bloomberg)

U.S. stocks gained slightly this morning after the first back-to-back weekly losses since January for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as small-cap shares advanced amid merger activity. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) dropped 2 percent after agreeing to buy DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite-TV company. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) jumped 1.6 percent after AstraZeneca Plc (NYSE: AZN) rejected the drug maker’s $117 billion offer. Campbell Soup Co. lost 3.1 percent after lowering its sales forecast for the year. The S&P 500 gained 0.1 percent to 1,878.87 at 10:04 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 20.93 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,470.38. The Russell 2000 Index added 0.3 percent. Trading in S&P 500 companies was 13 percent below the 30-day average for this time of day.

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Paul Dykewicz

Paul Dykewicz is the editor of StockInvestor.com and the editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, D.C. He writes and edits for the website, as well as edits investment newsletters, time-sensitive trading alerts and other reports published by Eagle. He also is an accomplished, award-winning journalist who has written for Dow Jones, USA Today and other publications, as well as served as business editor of a daily newspaper in Baltimore. In addition, Paul is the author of the inspirational book, "Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame's Championship Chaplain." He received his MBA in finance from Johns Hopkins University, where he was a two-time president of the school's Finance Club. In addition, Paul has a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in journalism from Michigan State University. Outside of work, Paul volunteers with a faith-based organization to assist the poor in Southeast Washington, D.C., to learn personal finance skills to lift themselves out of debt.