Traders-Blog.com

U.S. stocks rose due to investors’ optimism before the Fed meeting tomorrow. The increase was also aided by a midday rally in oil above $50 a barrel. The Dow increased 59.19 points to close at 10,251.70. Besides, both the Nasdaq, and the S&P posted gains. The Nasdaq rose 7 points, to close at 1,928.65, while the S&P closed at 1,162.16, after rising 5.31 points.

Crude oil for June delivery rose 2.4 percent to $50.92 a barrel in New York. Earlier, futures touched $49.03, which was the lowest point since February 22nd. Chevron Texaco, the second U.S. oil company, rose $1.21 to close at $53.21. Meanwhile, Burlington Resources Inc., which is a natural-gas and oil producer, added $1.36 to close at $49.97.

Among the Dow components, American International Group (AIG) rallied $2.59, or 5.1 percent, to close at $53.44. This increase was due to a report that said that the world’s largest insurer will correct five years of financial results for reinsurance which inflated net worth by $2.7 billion. AIG had lost more than $58 billion of stock-market value since probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) became public.

MCI announced that it had accepted a takeover offer from Verizon, which is worth 8.44 billion, instead of Qwest’s bid of $9.75 billion. Qwest Communications International Inc. ended a fight over MCI, which lasted about 11 weeks. MCI board members have made it clear that they prefer that the company be acquired by Verizon, which is larger and financially healthier than Qwest. Shares of MCI tumbled 83 cents to close at $25.70. Also, Verizon fell 83 cents to close at $34.97. On the other hand, Qwest rose 5 cents to close at $3.47 on the New York Stock Exchange.

All the best,
Manuel Jesus-Backus
The Portfolio Crafter