NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rising in midday trading after news of big corporate deals and strong earnings reports.
Family Dollar jumped 23 percent Wednesday after activist investor Nelson Peltz’s firm offered to pay up to $60 a share to take the discount retailer private. That was a 36 percent premium from Tuesday’s closing price. Family Dollar rose the most of any stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
Deere & Co. rose 4 percent after the farm and garden equipment maker said its net income more than doubled.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 57, or 0.3 percent, to 12,283.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 7, or 0.5 percent, to 1,335. The Nasdaq composite index rose 20, or 0.7 percent, at 2,824.
