Advertisement
Singapore markets closed
  • Straits Times Index

    3,224.01
    -27.70 (-0.85%)
     
  • Nikkei

    40,369.44
    +201.37 (+0.50%)
     
  • Hang Seng

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Bitcoin USD

    69,724.95
    -900.94 (-1.28%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • Dow

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • Nasdaq

    16,379.46
    -20.06 (-0.12%)
     
  • Gold

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • Crude Oil

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.2060
    +0.0100 (+0.24%)
     
  • FTSE Bursa Malaysia

    1,536.07
    +5.47 (+0.36%)
     
  • Jakarta Composite Index

    7,288.81
    -21.28 (-0.29%)
     
  • PSE Index

    6,903.53
    +5.36 (+0.08%)
     

US stocks rise on big biopharma merger

US stocks opened higher Wednesday as news of a large biopharmaceutical merger offset lackluster data on private-sector hiring.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18,010.74, up 82.54 points (0.46 percent).

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 7.35 (0.35 percent) at 2,096.81, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 17.36 (0.35 percent) to 4,956.69.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals announced it would buy Synageva BioPharma for $8.4 billion, creating a bigger player in treatments for rare diseases.

Payrolls firm ADP estimated the US added just 169,000 private-sector jobs in April, the second month in a row under 200,000, as the petroleum sector downturn continued to pinch the labor market.

Investors are looking ahead to Friday's US Labor Department jobs report for April.

US stocks fell sharply on Tuesday on worries about higher oil prices and the Greek debt crisis.