REUTERS: Wall Street's main indexes rose on Monday with the Nasdaq at a fresh intraday record high as investors cheered signs of progress in COVID-19 vaccine development and an upbeat start to the second-quarter earnings season by PepsiCo.
Merger news also perked up investors as Analog Devices Inc announced a US$21 billion deal to buy rival Maxim Integrated Products Inc , whose shares rose 11.4per cent. Analog shares fell 3.4per cent.PepsiCo Inc gained 2.2per cent as it benefited from a surge in at-home consumption of salty snacks such as Fritos and Cheetos during lockdowns.
Fatality rates from the coronavirus are holding reasonably stable, allowing markets to look beyond the increase in new cases and toward continued improvement in economic data and the recovery going forward, said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors in Boston.