Friday, 18 May 2007

U.S. Stocks Rise on M&A, Consumer Confidence; GE, AQuantive Lead Advance

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rebounded after Microsoft
Corp. agreed to buy aQuantive Inc. and investors speculated that a
sale of General Electric Co.'s plastics unit will extend this
year's record pace of takeovers.

AQuantive surged to a seven-year high after Microsoft, the
world's biggest software maker, said it will buy the online
advertising company for $6 billion in its biggest-ever
acquisition. GE advanced the most in three weeks on expectations
the second-biggest company by market value will sell its plastics
unit for about $11 billion. Stocks also got a boost from a report
showing an unexpected increase in consumer confidence.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

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