US stocks rose, rebounding after six weeks of losses, as mergers and acquisitions overshadowed concern the economy is slowing.
Transatlantic Holdings Inc., the reinsurer formerly owned by American International Group Inc., surged 16 per cent after agreeing to merge with Switzerland’s Allied World Assurance Company Holdings AG.
Timberland Co. rallied 42 per cent as VF Corp. said it will buy the maker of outdoor clothing and footwear for an enterprise value of about $2 billion.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.2 per cent to 1,273.95 at 9:33 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 27.78 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 11,979.69 after the gauge completed the longest stretch of weekly losses since 2002 on June 10.
More than $1 trillion has been erased from U.S. equity markets since the S&P 500’s peak on April 29, leaving the measure trading at about 12.8 times its companies’ estimated earnings. That’s the cheapest valuation since August.