NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are higher as technology and industrial companies and retailers make gains. Drugmakers and other health care companies are trading lower. Stocks have declined over the last two weeks. Trading is expected to be relatively quiet ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday later this week.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 3 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,581 as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 83 points, or 0.4 percent, to 23,442. The Nasdaq composite advanced 4 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,787. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks edged up 3 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,496.
TECH TIE-UP: Chipmaker Marvell Technology Group said it will buy competitor Cavium for $6 billion in the latest deal in the semiconductor industry. Cavium climbed $5.84, or 7.7 percent, to $81.68 and it’s up 20 percent over the last two weeks as investors anticipated a bid from Marvell. Marvell rose 30 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $20.59. Cavium makes chips for wired and wireless tech products and is prominent in networking technology. Marvell makes application-specific chips and integrated circuits for data storage.
Other technology companies climbed as well. IBM added $2.56, or 1.7 percent, to $151.53 and Applied Materials picked up $1.58, or 2.8 percent, to $58.07. Cisco Systems gained 35 cents, or 1 percent, to $36.25.
RETAIL RISING AGAIN: Retailers continued to move higher. They climbed last week following solid quarterly reports from Wal-Mart, Gap and Ross Stores. That’s given investors hope that shoppers are ready to spend more money. Home improvement retailer Home Depot rose $2.40, or 1.4 percent, to $170.14 and electronics retailer Best Buy advanced 66 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $56.50. Hibbett Sports, after a 27-percent surge on Friday, added $1.81, or 10.6 percent, to $18.91 and clothing company PVH rose $2.26, or 1.7 percent, to $135.39.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 78 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $55.77 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, dropped 87 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $61.85 a barrel in London.
Energy companies declined as well. Devon Energy sank 94 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $37.74 and Marathon Oil lost 46 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $14.59.
COMPETITION CONCERNS: Merck stumbled after Genentech, a unit of Swiss drugmaker Roche, reported positive results from a study of its drug Tecentriq as a primary treatment for lung cancer. Genentech said patients who were given Tecentriq as part of their treatment regimen were less likely to die or see their cancer get worse.
The results could affect sales of Merck’s drug Keytruda and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo and Yervoy. Merck fell $1.22, or 2.2 percent, to $53.98 and Bristol-Myers Squibb lost 72 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $60.60.
ALIBABA GOES SHOPPING: Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba said it will pay $2.88 billion for a 36 percent stake in Sun Art Retail Group, which runs more than 400 supermarket and big box stores across China. Its stock gained $4.32, or 2.3 percent, to $189.45.
OFF THE LIST: Zions Bancorporation rose after it said it will try to get itself removed from a group of companies that are subject to extra regulatory oversight because of their importance to the financial system and the economy. That would make it easier for Zions do things like raise its dividends and buy back stock. The Utah-based bank plans to alter its corporate structure and ask the Financial Stability Oversight Council to undo its designation as a “systemically important financial institution.”
Its shares added 67 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $46.97.
GENERAL ELECTRIC SLIDE: General Electric continued to fall as investors wondered about the company’s direction. On Sunday the Wall Street Journal said that directors with energy and financial backgrounds are likely to leave GE’s board as it shifts its focus away from those industries. GE’s two longest-serving directors are also likely to depart, as GE had already announced they won’t run for new terms. The company said earlier this month that it will reduce the number of directors to 12 from the current 18, bringing in nine new directors.
GE lost 28 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $17.93.
BONDS: Bond prices edged lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.37 percent from 2.35 percent.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 112.41 yen from 112.13 yen late Friday. The euro slipped to $1.1752 from $1.1796.
OVERSEAS: Germany faces an uncertain political future after the collapse of weeks of talks on forming a new government, but European stocks and bonds showed few ill effects. The German DAX was up 0.7 percent while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.5 percent. The FTSE 100 in Britain added 0.2 percent. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 0.6 percent and South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.2 percent.
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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jayt
