US stocks gain; Dollar General jumps after bid
Source: AP-Excite
By STEVE ROTHWELL
NEW YORK (AP) — Corporate deal news gave the US stock market a lift on Monday as a bidding contest erupted for a discount retailer. Stocks also climbed amid reports of diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire in the conflict in Ukraine.
Dollar General jumped after making a bid for retailer Family Dollar, a rival discount store. The offer topped a bid made last month by Dollar Tree, another discount retailer. Airlines were also among the big gainers as the price of oil slumped.
The stock market is bouncing back after a bout of summer volatility pushed the Standard & Poor's 500 down earlier this month to its lowest level since May. The index is now less than 1 percent below its record close of 1,987 reached on July 24. Investors had become skittish on concerns that the tensions between Russia and Ukraine were escalating.
"Investors are focusing back on earnings and fundamentals and not as worried about some of those geopolitical pressures right now," said Chris Gaffney, a senior market strategist at Everbank Wealth Management.
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FILE - This July 16, 2013, file photo, shows a Wall Street street sign outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York. European stocks bounced back Monday, Aug. 18, 2014, from Ukraine-related concerns that had caused sharp selling a week earlier. Wall Street was expected to open higher but Asian markets were subdued by further signs of weakness in China's property market. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
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