Wall Street indexes rise on M&A news, profits

(Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes gained on Monday as takeover news and strong profits from large-cap companies, such as Merck & Co., reassured investors after a broad sell-off at the end of last week.

Merck, a Dow component, posted quarterly results that beat analysts' expectations while Halliburton Co., the world's No. 2 oil services company, also topped forecasts and its shares rose to their highest since June 2006.


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Merck, Halliburton rise on earnings

(Reuters) - Merck stock rose 2 percent to $50 and Halliburton gained 2.5 percent to $37.49.




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Moody's weighs ratings as drug-patent lapses near

(Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co. , Pfizer Inc. and
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. are particularly vulnerable to
the downgrades because the top-selling drug of each expires in
that period.




Merck & Co. could also be adversely affected as two
of its important drugs face patent expirations.


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German Stocks Including Bayer, Linde, MAN Decline; BMW, Merck Move Higher

(Bloomberg) -- German stocks including Bayer AG,
Linde AG and MAN AG declined. Merck KGaA and Bayerische Motoren
Werke AG paced rising shares.

The DAX rose 2.48, or less than 0.1 percent, to 7989.61 at
10:13 a.m. in Frankfurt. DAX futures expiring in September
decreased 0.2 percent to 8034.50. The HDAX Index of the
country's 110 biggest companies shed 0.2 percent.


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German Stocks Increase; Merck, BMW, Commerzbank Shares Pace the Advance

(Bloomberg) -- German stocks rose, led by Merck
KGaA, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Commerzbank AG.

The benchmark DAX Index rose 15.15, or 0.2 percent, to
8002.28 as of 9:10 a.m. in Frankfurt. The HDAX Index of the
country's 110 biggest companies climbed 0.2 percent.


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Most U.S. Stocks Climb on Takeovers; General Electric, Exxon Mobil Advance

(Bloomberg) -- Most U.S. stocks rose, extending a
seven-week advance, after $43.2 billion of announced deals added
to this year's record pace of mergers and acquisitions.

General Electric Co., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Merck & Co.
briefly led the S&P 500 above its March 24, 2000, peak. Alltel
Corp. rallied to its highest in almost eight years after Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. and TPG Inc. agreed to buy the fifth-biggest
U.S. wireless company for $24.7 billion.


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