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New York - US stocks opened back in record territory Thursday after Wednesday's pause, spurred by strong results from Walmart and Berkshire Hathaway's $4.7bn takeover of Duracell.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 49.10 points (0.28%) to 17 661.30.
The broad-market S&P 500 added 4.04 (0.20%) to 2 042.29, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 20.56 (0.44%) at 4 695.70.
Warren Buffett's cash-laden investment house Berkshire said it would pay Procter & Gamble $4.7bn worth of P&G shares to take over Duracell.
The company reportedly has 25% of the global battery market with $2bn in annual sales.
As part of the deal, P&G is committed to inject $1.8bn into Duracell to recapitalize it.
Berkshire B shares rose 0.3% to $146.01 in opening trade Thursday, while P&G lost 0.5% to $89.06.
Walmart Stores shares surged 3.3% on forecast-beating third-quarter earnings. The huge retailer overcame a fall in US store traffic with price rises and strong gains in its small Neighborhood Market chain to turn in earnings per share of $1.15, three cents higher than analysts expected.
In major tech shares, Amazon and Apple were both up 1.2%.
Bond prices were lower. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.39% from 2.36% on Wednesday, while the 30-year rose to 3.09% from 3.08%. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
