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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -
Stocks advanced Monday morning, as investors welcomed a proposed $30 billion merger in the oil industry and Viacom's purchase of DreamWorks, and shrugged off the latest rise in oil prices.
The Dow Jones industrial average (up 28.33 to 10,806.91, Charts), the S&P 500 (up 4.06 to 1,263.43, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (up 9.20 to 2,265.93, Charts) all gained in the early going.
Stocks managed modest gains Friday at the end of an otherwise down week for stocks.
Some of that momentum extended to early Monday, particularly amid a slew of potential mergers.
ConocoPhilips is reportedly in late stage talks to buy Burlington Resources for about $30 billion, according to a report published in the Wall Street Journal.
The news sent shares of Burlington (up $7.01 to $83.10, Research) surging and Conoco (down $2.07 to $61.00, Research) shares lower.
Separately, Viacom (up $0.36 to $34.78, Research)'s Paramount Pictures confirmed over the weekend that it was buying privately held DreamWorks SKG for $1.6 billion in a cash and assumption of debt deal.
Among other movers, Google (up $5.82 to $415.02, Research) shares gained after brokerage Credit Suisse First Boston lifted its price target on the Internet behemoth to $475 from $400, citing increased momentum.
U.S. light crude oil for January delivery jumped 77 cents to $60.16 a barrel in electronic trading.
Treasury prices eased, with the yield on the 10-year note rising to 4.53 percent from 4.52 percent late Friday.
The dollar fell versus the euro and yen.
COMEX gold for February delivery jumped $6.70 to $536.90 an ounce.
In global trade, major Asian markets ended higher and European markets were mixed at midday.
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