Stocks Rise as Deals Spur Drugmaker Rally; Oil Retreats

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U.S. stocks rose for a sixth day, the longest streak since September, amid a rally in drugmakers after more than $70 billion in global takeover offers. Oil fell the most in three months and coffee rose to a two-year high.

The Standard & Poor��s 500 Index (SPX) added 0.4 percent to 1,879.55 at 4 p.m. in New York, bringing it within 1 percent of its closing record of 1,890.90 on April 2. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 1.4 percent. Allergan Inc. soared 15 percent and AstraZeneca Plc jumped 4.7 percent. West Texas Intermediate crude slid as much as 2.4 percent on estimates that U.S. supplies rose last week. Coffee futures surged as much as 8.3 percent on growing concern a drought in Brazil will create a supply shortage.

A wave of acquisitions across the pharmaceutical industry boosted share prices. Novartis AG agreed to buy GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK)��s cancer-drug business for as much as $16 billion while selling most of the vaccines division to Glaxo and an animal-health unit to Eli Lilly & Co. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. offered to buy Allergan in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $45.7 billion. Thirty companies in the S&P 500 disclose results today, while a further 121 members report before the end of the week.

Copy Source : Bloomberg