Deals drive stocks toward records



Stocks rose on Monday as investors cheered corporate deal-making activity, with the major indexes approaching record levels.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained positive 98.02 points to 25,767.34, with Nike outperforming.

The S&P 500 picked up 5.21 points to 2,855.34, led by gains in energy.

The NASDAQ doffed 9.06 points to 7,807.27, pressured by declines in Facebook and Tesla.

Stocks kicked off this week within striking distance of reaching all-time highs. The S&P 500 was just 0.8% below a record set on Jan. 26, while the Dow was 3.6% and the NASDAQ 1.5%, below their all-time highs.

This week could also be record-setting for Wall Street for another reason. On Wednesday, the bull market turns 3,453 days old. Barring a 20% decline between now and then, some strategists believe it would mark the longest bull market in history.

Many strategists believe the current bull market started on March 9, 2009. Since then, the S&P 500 has surged more than 300%.
PepsiCo agreed to buy SodaStream for $3.2 billion, or $144 per share. The agreed price per share represents a 10.9% premium from SodaStream's closing price of $129.85 on Friday. The deal is expected to close by January. SodaStream shares rose about 10%.

Meanwhile, Tyson Foods confirmed it was buy Keystone Foods, a chicken-processing company, for $2.16 billion in cash.

Nike shares rose more than 3% after Piper Jaffray upgraded the athletic apparel maker to overweight from neutral and raised their price target to $93 a share from $72. The stock traded around $82 per share.

Facebook's stock slipped 1% on media reports the U.S. government is trying to force the company to break its encryption on the Messages app.

Tesla dropped 1.3% after analysts at J.P. Morgan slashed their price target on the stock to $195 from $308, noting they believe the funding behind CEO Elon Musk's plan to go private was "not secured."

Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 2.83% from Friday’s 2.87%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices added 19 cents at $66.10U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices gathered $8.60 to $1,192.80 U.S. an ounce.