US stocks rise as Intel buys Altera for $16.7B

NEW YORK–US stocks rose Monday as a busy week of economic news kicked off with Intel’s announcement it will buy rival chipmaker Altera for $16.7 billion.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 29.69 (0.16 percent) to 18,040.37.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 4.34 (0.21 percent) to 2,111.73, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 12.90 (0.25 percent) to 5,082.93.

Altera jumped 5.8 percent to $51.69 on news of Intel’s $54-per-share takeover deal, the second giant merger in the semiconductor industry in two weeks. Dow member Intel stock lost 1.6 percent.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist, said Monday’s economic data was “pretty positive” on the whole. Reports showed higher construction spending and higher personal incomes in April, but lower consumer spending.

A jammed economic calendar this week includes May auto sales, the May jobs report and meetings of the European Central Bank and Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Dow member Microsoft rose 0.8 percent after announcing it will begin selling its Windows 10 operating system on July 29. The move marks a major launch for Microsoft, after the relative failure of Windows 8, which was rolled out in 2013.

Airline stocks jumped as concern about overcapacity eased. Credit Suisse said in a note it felt “a sense of relief” after a visit to Southwest Airlines Friday suggested the company “is a more rational player than the market has grown to fear.”

Southwest rose 2.4 percent, Delta Air Lines advanced 3.3 percent and American Airlines jumped 4.3 percent.

Drugmaker Bristol Myers-Squibb gained 2.9 percent following clinical research showing two of its drugs are more potent against melanoma in tandem, although the research also showed the combination increases side effects.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury jumped to 2.18 percent from 2.10 percent and the 30-year rose to 2.94 percent from 2.85 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.