Stocks Up on Alcoa Bid; Dow Tops 13,300

NEW YORK - Stocks rose Monday as investors applauded a $33 billion bid by Alcoa Inc. for Canadian aluminum rival Alcan Inc. The Dow Jones industrials passed 13,300 for the first time.

The move by Alcoa, one of the 30 stocks that makes up the Dow Jones industrials, gave the market a lift Monday as investors often regard merger and acquisition activity as a bullish bet by companies on corporate profit.

With little earnings and economic data to go on Monday, investors will be awaiting further signals to try to determine where stocks might be headed and whether Wall Street's record rally will continue. Investors will also be awaiting the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday on interest rates.

On Monday afternoon, the Fed reports on consumer credit in March. The market is expecting a reading of $5 billion, up from $2.9 billion in February, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Thomson Financial.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 33.81, or 0.25 percent, to 13,298.43. The Dow rose as high as 13,310.70, topping a previous trading high of 13,284.53 set Friday.

The blue chip index has hit 19 record closes since the start of the year and 41 since the beginning of October, its latest coming Friday, its fourth in as many sessions. The gains in 23 of the last 26 sessions marks the longest winning streak for the blue chips since 1944. A higher close by the Dow Monday would make it the longest set of gains for the Dow with three declining days since 1927.

Broader stock indicators rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.61, or 0.31 percent, to 1,510.23. Last week, the S&P 500 moved above the 1,500 level for the first time in nearly seven years. The 1,500 level puts the closing high of 1,527.46 reached in March 24, 2000, within investors' sights.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 5.12, or 0.20 percent, to 2,577.27.

In corporate news, Alcoa offered $58.60 in cash and 0.4108 of a share for each share of Alcan. Based on the closing prices Friday, Alcoa's offer carries a 20 percent premium. Alcoa said it took its offer to shareholders after Alcan rejected the company's overtures for two years.

Alcoa rose $2.30, or 6.5 percent, to $37.96, while Alcan surged $20.21, or 33.1 percent, to $81.24.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 112.2 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.92, or 0.23 percent, to 834.80.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.58 percent. Stock markets in Britain were closed for a bank holiday. Germany's DAX index rose 0.12 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.02 percent.

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