By Saumya Vaishampayan And Alexandra Scaggs
U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday, as oil prices rebounded
and Dow component Pfizer Inc. announced a $16 billion deal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 86 points, or 0.5%, to
17758. The S&P 500 gained 10 points, or 0.5%, to 2051 and
Nasdaq Composite Index added 20 points, or 0.4%, to 4737.
Pfizer agreed to buy Hospira Inc., which makes injectable drugs
and infusion technologies. Hospira shareholders will receive $90 a
share in cash, representing a premium of 39% to Wednesday's closing
price. Shares of Pfizer rose 2.7% and those of Hospira surged
35%.
Adding to the positive tone in the market was a rebound in U.S.
oil prices. Crude-oil futures rose 2.6% to $49.77 a barrel.
The Dow ended little changed Wednesday, giving up a gain of 116
points in late-afternoon trade after the European Central Bank
increased pressure on the new Greek government to come to terms
with its international creditors. The Dow added less than 0.1% to
17673.02, while the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 2041.51.
Stock-market volatility has picked up this year, driven in part
by sharp swings in energy and currency markets. Uncertainty about
the impact of an interest-rate increase from the Federal Reserve,
concerns about Greece, signs of weakness in corporate earnings and
worries about global growth have also contributed to swings in the
stock market. In January, the S&P 500 had eight days in which
it swung by at least 1%, more than the five times in January 2014.
The Dow posted moves of 1% or more on 10 days in January, more than
double the four such moves in January 2014.
"There is an uptick in global volatility," said John Brady,
managing director at futures brokerage R.J. O'Brien. "It probably
allows the Fed a little more time," he said, referring to an
expected increase in interest rates.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren
suggested Thursday that the dollar's rally has complicated the
Fed's efforts to get annual consumer-price growth back to
target.
Stocks extended gains in early trading after labor-market data.
Jobless claims in the week ended Jan. 31 rose by 11,000 to 278,000,
the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall
Street Journal had expected 290,000 new claims. On Friday, the
closely watched nonfarm payrolls report is expected to show the
economy added 237,000 jobs in January, as the unemployment rate
ticked down to 5.5% from 5.6%.
The ECB said Wednesday it would stop accepting Greek bonds as
collateral for central bank loans. Greece's new leaders are seeking
to ease conditions on its bailout program. The ECB's announcement,
which was released after the close of European markets, weighed on
Greek stocks and bonds Thursday. Germany's DAX fell 0.5% and
France's CAC 40 lost 0.4%.
In Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.2% and
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 1%.
Gold futures fell 0.5% to $1258.40 an ounce. The yield on the
10-year Treasury note inched up to 1.798% from 1.794% Wednesday.
Yields rise as prices fall.
Verizon Communications Inc. is close to selling a package of
wireline assets to Frontier Communications Corp. for around $10
billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. Shares of Verizon
slipped 0.1%, while those of Frontier jumped 5.4% in premarket
trading.
Anthem Inc., the second-biggest health insurer in the U.S., said
hackers broke into a database containing personal information for
about 80 million customers and employees. Shares of the company
gained 0.2%.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com and
Alexandra Scaggs at alexandra.scaggs@wsj.com
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