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New York - US stocks rose early on Wednesday following news of Royal Dutch Shell's $70bn takeover of BG Group as the market awaited the kickoff of earnings season.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17 970.84, up 95.42 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.48% to 2 086.30, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.743% at 4 946.60.
Analysts said Shell's acquisition of BG could set off a wave of mergers in the energy industry spurred by the big drop in oil prices. Petroleum producers Marathon Oil (+0.6%) and Anadarko Petroleum (+1.2%) were among the companies gaining in opening trade.
Traders were also looking ahead to the 20:00 release of minutes of the March monetary policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve and to Alcoa earnings, which will be reported after the market closes.
Alcoa rose 2.5%.
Dow member Merck rose 0.8% after its new treatment for chronic hepatitis C won a "breakthrough therapy" designation from the US Food and Drug Administration. The designation is intended to expedite regulatory approval of promising drugs.
Halliburton advanced 0.2% after announcing it would sell its directional drilling business and some other assets to placate antitrust regulators in its takeover of rival oil services giant Baker Hughes.
Drugstore chain Rite Aid rose 0.5% as fourth-quarter earnings jumped to $1.8bn from $55m a year ago due to a $1.7bn tax benefit.
Yoga attire maker Lululemon Athletica shot up 5.2% following an upgrade by Sterne Agee.
Lions Gate Entertainment, a movie and television program company, fell 7.1% to $31.30 after it announced that an offering of 10 million shares held by investment company MHR Fund would price at $32 per share.
Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury held steady at 1.89%, while the 30-year rose to 2.53% from 2.52% on Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
