Stocks rose sharply on Wall Street yesterday as technology shares rallied for a third straight session and AT&T's $32 billion (£22.9 million) takeover of cable giant TCI ignited a new wave of merger speculation.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 95.41 points to 8,923.87 padding Tuesday's 117-point gain and posting its best finish in two weeks.
The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 13.40 to 1,132.89, setting a new high for the first time in two months by topping April 22nd's record close of 1,130.54.
The Nasdaq composite rose 33.19 to 1,877.76.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a four to three margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,738 up, 1,268 down and 542 unchanged.
NYSE volume totalled 678.69 million shares, down from 632.58 million on Tuesday.
The NYSE composite index rose 5.55 to 577.18, and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 10.88 to 709.48. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.89 to 451.31.
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