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New York - US stocks advanced on Wednesday and the Dow surged to a new intraday high, buoyed by the latest merger news, as investors sorted through the latest batch of corporate earnings.
Merger and acquisition activity continued to thrive on Wall Street. Time Warner shares jumped 18.1% to $83.87 as the biggest boost to the S&P 500 after Twenty-First Century Fox confirmed it made an $80bn takeover offer for the company that was turned down. Twenty-First Century Fox shares lost 1.7% to $33.54.
Also supporting gains was chipmaker Intel, which climbed 6.2% to $33.69 following second-quarter results that topped analysts' estimates. The company also forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street's expectations.
"It's a combination of M&A that has been pretty consistent - about every day we wake up to at least one, if not two deals - and earnings have continued to be good," said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia.
"Things have started off pretty well, we haven't seen a whole lot outside of the financials but the few we have seen have been pretty good."
A partnership struck between IBM and Apple Inc also helped boost indexes. A deal was struck between the tech giants in which IBM will exclusively sell iPhones and iPads loaded with applications geared at enterprise clients this fall.
IBM shares gained 1.6% to $191.43 as the Dow's biggest boost while Apple advanced 1.1% to $96.36.
The S&P technology sector gained 0.9%.
Bank of America lost 2.1% to $15.48 after the second-largest US bank by assets reported a 43% drop in second-quarter profit as mortgage revenue fell and litigation costs increased.
Yahoo shares also declined, slumping 4.4% to $34.03 after disappointing second-quarter results and outlook, although the company pledged to pay its shareholders at least half the proceeds from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's
In other merger news, Italy's GTECH will buy US slot machine maker International Game Technology for $6.4bn including debt. IGT shares jumped 8.8 percent to $16.86.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 46.1 points or 0.27%, to 17 107, the S&P 500 gained 6.09 points or 0.31%, to 1 979 and the Nasdaq Composite added 19.19 points or 0.43%, to 4 436.
Other data showed industrial production edged up 0.2 in June, but fell short of the 0.4% estimate. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index rose to 53 in July, a six-month high, from 49 in the prior month.
After the closing bell, results are due from S&P 500 companies including eBay and SanDisk.
S&P 500 companies' profits are expected to grow 5.2% in the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data, down from the 8.4% growth forecast at the start of April. Revenue is seen up 3.2%.
