Stocks jump on mergers, falling oil

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Nasdaq composite surged and the broader market inched higher Monday morning, as investors welcomed merger news and falling oil prices following last week's selloff.

Investors also kept an eye on Dow stock Pfizer, which slumped on news that it has halted development of a key new drug.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 29.80 to 12,223.93, Charts) added 0.3 percent around 70 minutes into the session, as did the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (up 5.15 to 1,401.86, Charts) index. The tech-fueled Nasdaq (up 21.39 to 2,434.60, Charts) composite added 0.8 percent.

The major gauges slipped Friday at the end of a tough week in which slowdown worries preyed on investors' confidence.

After the retreat, investors were willing to move back into stocks Monday, particularly technology, with the Nasdaq having been hit the hardest last week.

The morning brought a number of big company deals.

In the financial sector, Bank of New York (up $3.26 to $38.74, Charts) and Mellon Bank (up $1.86 to $41.91, Charts) announced a $16.5 billion deal the companies are calling a merger of equals. Bank of New York shares jumped more than 9 percent, while Mellon Bank shares gained nearly 5 percent.

The deal gave a boost to a variety of financial shares, lifting the Philly Bank Sector (Charts) index by 1.3 percent.

Station Casinos (up $12.22 to $81.32, Charts) has received a $4.7 billion management-led buyout offer to go private.

And LSI Logic (down $1.31 to $9.25, Charts) said it will buy Agere Systems (up $1.76 to $19.55, Charts) for $4 billion.

Among technology gainers, Internet stocks were particularly upbeat, with Yahoo! (up $0.55 to $27.04, Charts) and eBay (up $0.54 to $32.04, Charts) both up 2 percent. The Goldman Sachs Internet (Charts) index gained 1.5 percent.

Pfizer (down $3.44 to $24.43, Charts), a Dow stock, plunged 12.5 percent on news that it has stopped developing a new experimental cholesterol treatment because a study resulted in an unexpected number of deaths.

A more than 2 percent slide in crude oil prices weighed on the oil service sector stocks including Exxon Mobil (down $0.38 to $76.82, Charts), Valero Energy (down $0.67 to $55.18, Charts) and Sunoco (down $1.20 to $67.78, Charts).

U.S. light crude oil for January delivery fell $1.28 to $62.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The dollar recovered some after hitting a 20-month low versus the euro last week. The greenback also inched higher versus the yen.

Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.45 percent from 4.43 percent late Friday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

COMEX gold rose 60 cents to $651.20 an ounce.

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