NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks rallied Monday as a heavy stream of corporate news gave investors a reason to hunt for bargains after weeks of declines.
The Nasdaq composite (Charts) posted the strongest gains in percentage terms, adding 1.7 percent, on strength in the chip sector.
The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) rose 1.1 percent while the Standard & Poor's 500 index (Charts) rose 1.3 percent.
A deluge of corporate announcements helped make up for a lack of economic news.
Investors were also betting that the March employment report, due Friday, will finally show the solid job growth Wall Street has been awaiting. Economists expect the report to show that 123,000 new jobs were created last month and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.6 percent, according to Briefing.com.
Weekly jobless claims hit a three-year low recently, further stirring hopes for a strong monthly jobs report.
"The market could tread water until Friday," said Donald Selkin, the director of research at Joseph Stevens, emphasizing that the jobs report will be the major news of the week. Selkin added that the market may cool down as today's sharp gains are unlikely to be repeated.
Tuesday brings the Conference Board's March reading of consumer confidence. Economists foresee a modest pull-back in confidence of 86, down from 87.3 in February. Selkin said he isn't too optimistic about the report as security fears and high gasoline prices may have spooked consumers but noted that the Michigan numbers came out higher than he expected.
Also on the calendar this week: factory orders in February, the Chicago purchasing managers index, and weekly jobless claims.
Wednesday will bring earnings reports from electronics retailers Best Buy (BBY: up $0.10 to $48.29, Research, Estimates) and Circuit City (CCY: Research, Estimates) and home furnishings retailer Bed Bath and Beyond (BBY: up $0.10 to $48.29, Research, Estimates).
Mergers, techs vie for the spotlight
Merger news pushed shares of Tularik Inc. and Millennium Chemicals Inc. higher, earning both a spot among the biggest winners in Monday trading.
Biotechnology powerhouse Amgen Inc. said it would buy the 80 percent of Tularik it doesn't already own in a stock swap valued at $1.3 billion. Tularik (TLRK: up $7.53 to $24.53, Research, Estimates) stock surged 44.3 percent while Amgen (AMGN: up $1.46 to $59.55, Research, Estimates) shares rose 2.5 percent.
Lyondell Chemical Co. said it will buy Millennium Chemicals Inc. for $1 billion in stock, pushing Millennium's (MCH: up $2.56 to $15.11, Research, Estimates) shares over 20 percent higher. The deal would create North America's No. 3 publicly traded chemical producer with revenues of $11 billion, the companies said.
Lyondell (LYO: down $0.54 to $15.08, Research, Estimates) fell by 3.5 percent in the wake of the news.
Strength in the chip sector helped give the Nasdaq, and the broader market, a boost.
Industry bellweather and Dow component Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) rose 1.1 percent while rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: Research, Estimates) tacked on 1.4 percent. Texas Instruments (TXN: Research, Estimates) edged 1.8 percent higher.
And Taiwanese chip stocks zoomed higher as the tense political situation there appeared to ease somewhat after the contentious presidential elections.
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM: up $0.41 to $10.39, Research, Estimates) climbed 4.1 percent higher, United Micro Electronics (UMC: up $0.28 to $5.23, Research, Estimates) surged 5.7 percent, and Chartered Semiconductor (CHRT: up $0.18 to $9.40, Research, Estimates) rose by nearly 2 percent.
Elsewhere, Schwab SoundView raised its investment rating on Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM: Research, Estimates) to "outperform" from "neutral" and boosted the price target to $75 from $55, saying that the wireless firm is poised to challenge industry leader Nokia (NOK: Research, Estimates).
A favorable report in Barron's lifted Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ: up $0.81 to $23.17, Research, Estimates), another member of the Dow, 3.6 percent. The magazine said HP appears to have kept its promise to cut costs and improve its product line-up.
Sonus Networks Inc. (SONS: down $0.64 to $3.92, Research, Estimates) said its amended annual report for 2003 will be delayed, sending its shares tumbling 14 percent.
The telecom equipment maker also said it has made "substantial progress" in its review of its 2003 and 2002 results and is considering expanding the review to include earlier periods.
Meanwhile, investors had waited all weekend to snap up OraSure Technologies stock after the Food and Drug Administration late Friday approved the company's saliva-based HIV test, which is the first non-blood test used to detect the virus and gives highly accurate results in 20 minutes.
OraSure (OSUR: up $0.80 to $10.50, Research, Estimates) shares surged 8.3 percent.
Also on the move was Goodyear (GT: up $0.35 to $7.89, Research, Estimates), which rose 4.6 percent after the world's No. 1 tire maker said Sunday it has developed new synthetic products that could slash its rubber costs by 15 percent over the next three years.
Tyson Foods (TSN: down $0.49 to $17.58, Research, Estimates) slumped nearly 3 percent on news the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into perks received by some of the company's directors and officers.
Market breadth was overwhelmingly positive, but volume was moderate.
Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by roughly three to one on the New York Stock Exchange, where 1.4 billion shares traded, and by better than 2 to 1 on the Nasdaq as 1.7 billion shares changed hands.
Treasury prices slipped, with the 10-year note losing 13/32 of a point to yield 3.88 percent, up from 3.83 percent late Friday. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
The dollar dived versus the yen and was little changed against the euro on reports that the Bank of Japan is curbing its intervention in the currency markets.
In commodities markets, NYMEX light sweet crude oil futures for May delivery fell 28 cents to $35.45 a barrel. COMEX gold slipped $5 to settle at $418.20 an ounce.
European stocks cruised to a higher close while Asian stocks ended mixed Monday, with Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei giving up 0.5 percent.
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