S&P 500 Rises Toward Record as Forest Labs Offsets Data

Most U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) climbing to within eight points of a record, as a $25 billion deal to acquire Forest Laboratories Inc. offset slower growth in New York-area manufacturing.

Forest Laboratories surged 28 percent after Actavis Plc agreed to buy the maker of the Alzheimer’s drug Namenda. Coca-Cola Co. dropped 3.8 percent as fourth-quarter profit fell. D.R. Horton Inc. and PulteGroup Inc. lost more than 1.2 percent as a gauge of homebuilder confidence declined by the most on record in February amid bad weather that hurt sales.

The S&P 500 added 0.1 percent to 1,840.76 at 4 p.m. in New York, near its record close of 1,848.38 set last month. The Dow (INDU) Jones Industrial Average fell 23.99 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,130.40. About 6.3 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, in line with the three-month average. The U.S. market was closed yesterday for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

The S&P 500 finished its best week of the year within 0.5 percent of its all-time high on Feb. 14, amid better-than-forecast earnings and continued confidence in the strength of the world’s biggest economy.

(Source: bloomberg)