Posted on: Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Merger, retail sales' gain boost investors' hopes
By Michael J. Martinez
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Investors pushed stocks substantially higher yesterday as Wall Street greeted the Oracle-PeopleSoft merger and a climb in retail sales as signs of continued economic improvement. The Standard & Poor's 500 index set a new post-9/11 high.
Wall Street also applauded the Commerce Department's report on November retail sales, which rose 0.1 percent, better than the flat sales economists had expected. Taking auto sales out of the equation, retail sales rose 0.5 percent for the month. Wall Street had expected a 0.3 percent rise excluding autos.
"I think the retail sales numbers helped, alleviating a lot of the concern over holiday sales prospects. And then on top of that you have all this merger activity," said Bryan Piskorowski, market strategist for Wachovia Securities. "Mid-month is typically pretty quiet, but this news is bringing some people back into the market."
The Nasdaq composite index gained 20.43, or 0.96 percent, to 2,148.50, near its 2004 high.
A small rise in oil futures did little to rattle investors, who remain pleased that prices remain near their five-month lows. A barrel of light crude was quoted at $41.01, up 30 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where preliminary consolidated volume came to 1.82 billion shares, compared with 1.81 billion on Friday.
Oracle Corp. announced that PeopleSoft Inc. would accept a $26.50-per-share bid, valuing the rival software company at $10.3 billion. The agreement ends an 18-month feud between the two that featured courtroom intrigue and pithy public statements, and cheered investors who feared the battle would distract the companies from their core businesses.
