US stocks rise on reports of big Micron bid

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, center left, attends the opening bell ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, July 14, 2015. The Republican governor is making New York the first stop on his plans to travel around the U.S. and world to woo companies to Texas. Wall Street stocks rose Tuesday, with the Nasdaq leading the way following reports of a possible $23 billion acquisition of chipmaker Micron and big gains by Google and others. AP PHOTO/MARK LENNIHAN

NEW YORK–Wall Street stocks rose Tuesday, with the Nasdaq leading the way following reports of a possible $23 billion acquisition of chipmaker Micron and big gains by Google and others.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 75.90 points (0.42 percent) to 18,053.58.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 9.35 (0.45 percent) to 2,108.95, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 33.38 (0.66 percent) to 5,104.89.

Micron Technology surged 11.4 percent following reports that Tsinghua Unigroup, an investment arm of one of China’s leading science and technology universities, plans to offer $23 billion for the company.

Other chipmakers rose, including SanDisk (+3.4 percent), STMicroelectronics (+1.2 percent) and Texas Instruments (+0.9 percent).

Google climbed 2.7 percent following a Wall Street Journal report that said the company was curbing hiring and taking a tougher approach to spending under new chief financial officer Ruth Porat. The tech giant will report earnings after the market close on Thursday.

Online retailer Amazon advanced 2.2 percent following an upgrade by UBS.

Several Nasdaq-listed biotech companies also notched large gains, including Gilead Sciences (+2.5 percent) and Amgen and Biogen (both +2.3 percent).

Twitter finished 2.6 percent higher after spiking more than five percent following a bogus news report about a possible $31 billion takeover of the microblogging company. The story appeared on a website falsely claiming to be run by Bloomberg, but was quickly denied by the news agency.

Banking giant and Dow member JPMorgan Chase climbed 1.4 percent after second-quarter earnings rose 5.2 percent to $6.3 billion. Wells Fargo advanced 0.9 percent on flat earnings of $5.7 billion.

Johnson & Johnson, another Dow component, fell 0.5 percent as second-quarter sales dropped 8.8 percent to $17.78 billion, due in large part to the effects of the strong dollar.

Discount carrier Spirit Airlines shed 7.4 percent after estimating that second-quarter results would be hit by $20 million in costs from canceling about 500 US flights due to bad weather. Spirit also lowered its full-year forecast due to stronger price competition.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dipped to 2.40 percent from 2.44 percent Monday, while the 30-year dropped to 3.20 percent from 3.22 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.