Investing.com – Wall Street traded higher on Monday as investors waded through M&A news and shrugged off both geopolitical tensions and weak econ data released when stock markets were closed last Friday.
At 10:32AM ET (14:32GMT), the Dow Jones gained 94 points, or 0.46%, the S&P 500 rose 11 points, or 0.47%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded 30 points, or 0.52%.
Wall Street traders returned to their desks Monday after the three-day Easter weekend unfazed by a failed missile launch by North Korea and promises by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence that the "era of strategic patience" with the country was over.
With no major economic reports out on Monday, investors also looked past weak retail sales and inflation data that was released on the Good Friday holiday.
U.S. retail sales fell for a second straight month in March and consumer prices dropped for the first time in just over a year, underscoring the magnitude of the loss of economic growth momentum in the first quarter.
Though equities seemed unaffected, the dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, remained under pressure and was last down 0.47% at 100.02 by 10:34AM ET (14:34GMT).
Easing inflation seemed to lower the need for the Federal Reserve (Fed) to continue tightening monetary policy with bets for the first hike now pushed back from June to at least July where odds were hovering around 50%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
St. Louis Fed president James Bullard, the self-proclaimed most dovish member of the central bank, told Macro Musings that he could be “persuaded” to make one move or so.
Vice chair Stanley Fischer was scheduled to speak on “Monetary Policy Communication” later on Monday at 5:00PM ET (21:00GMT).
In company news, headlines were awash with examples of M&A announcements and rumors.
The NY Post reported that Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) had expressed “modest internal interest” in the purchase of BJ’s Wholesale Club.
Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group, increased its bid for Moneygram Int (NASDAQ:MGI) to approximately $1.2 billion. The new $18 per share offer beat out a competing $15.20 bid from Euronet Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:EEFT).
EagleClaw Midstream Ventures LLC, the largest privately held operator of pipelines and processing facilities in West Texas' Delaware Basin, said it agreed to be bought by funds managed by Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Group for about $2 billion.
Shares in Straight Path Communications (NYSE:STRP) jumped almost 15% on a report that Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is considering topping AT&T’s (NYSE:T) own $1.25 billion bid for the firm.
In big movers to the downside, Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY) and Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) led the decliners on the S&P 500 with losses of 11% and 4%, respectively, after their new rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib failed to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) will get the reporting season rolling for the tech sector after the market close on Monday.
Meanwhile, oil prices headed lower on Monday as a continuous increase in U.S. production caused concern that major oil producers would be unable to achieve a dent in the global supply glut despite their agreement to cut output.
Late Thursday (prior to the Easter holiday period), oilfield services firm Barker Hughes reported its weekly U.S. rig count rose by 11 to 683. That was the thirteenth straight weekly increase to its highest level in nearly two years.
U.S. crude futures lost 0.36% to $52.99 by 10:35AM ET (14:35GMT), while Brent oil traded down 0.27% to $55.74.