Tech, Retail Boosts Stocks

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are rising Monday morning with retailers and technology companies making some of the largest gains. Stocks made their biggest gain in a month Friday and reached their highest levels since the start of February following a monthly jobs report that showed strong job gains and moderate growth in wages. Goldman Sachs is rising as the company positions David Solomon to be its next CEO.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index added 6 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,792 as of 10:05 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 52 points, or 0.2 percent, to 25,388. The Nasdaq composite climbed 32 points, or 0.4 percent, to 7,593. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,599.

The Nasdaq closed at a record high Friday thanks to a surge for technology companies. The S&P 500 is at its highest since Feb. 1. That means it has recovered the losses it suffered after the government's January jobs report, which showed a surprise spike in hourly wages. Wall Street worried that that might be the start of faster inflation.

The February jobs report, which came out on Friday, eased investors' minds, and stocks made their biggest gain in a month.

ALL EYES ON TECH: Optical communications company Oclaro surged after it agreed to be bought by optical networking company Lumentum Holdings. The deal values Oclaro at $9.99 a share, or $1.69 billion, and its stock gained $1.95, or 24.8 percent, to $9.80. Lumentum also rose $1.78, or 2.6 percent, to $70.75.

Late Friday the Wall Street Journal reported that Intel might try to buy rival Broadcom. Broadcom is trying to buy a third chipmaker, Qualcomm, for $117 billion, and the Journal said that if that deal appears to be moving forward, Intel will consider responded that could include an attempt to buy Broadcom. It could also attempt a smaller deal.

Broadcom jumped $7.49, or 3 percent, to $261.27 while Intel fell $1, or 1.9 percent, to $51.19. Qualcomm dipped 3 cents to $63.

Other tech companies climbed as well. Apple advanced $1.71, or 1 percent, to $181.69 and Cisco Systems added 37 cents to $45.74.

BATTERIES INCLUDED: Johnson Controls climbed after it said it will consider selling its power solutions business, which makes batteries for vehicles among other products. That business brought in $7.3 billion in revenue in the company's latest fiscal year, while Johnson Controls got more than $22 billion in adjusted revenue from its main business, which makes heating and ventilation systems for buildings and other systems. The stock rose 61 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $39.15.

TOP MAN AT GOLDMAN: Goldman Sachs said David Solomon will become its sole president and chief operating officer, clearing the way for Solomon to become the firm's next CEO. Solomon and Harvey Schwartz had shared both job titles, but the company says Schwartz will retire next month. Last week the Wall Street Journal said CEO Lloyd Blankfein could retire as soon as the end of this year, and that Solomon and Schwartz were the only two candidates to replace him.

Goldman's stock gained $3.70, or 1.4 percent, to $274.47.

GOOD CHEMISTRY: DowDuPont gained 4 cents to $72.69 after the company said CEO Andrew Liveris is retiring. He ran Dow Chemical for 14 years up through its combination with DuPont last year. Liveris planned to retire by mid-2017, but that was delayed as the company looked for a new head of its materials science business. The company said Jeff Fettig will become its new chairman.

DowDuPont ultimately plans to break up into three companies.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude declined 7 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $61.30 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, shed 71 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $64.78 a barrel in London.

BONDS: Bond prices edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dipped to 2.89 percent from 2.90 percent.

CURRENCY: The dollar slid to 106.54 yen from 106.77 yen late Friday. The euro slipped to $1.2310 from $1.2313.

OVERSEAS: The German DAX rose 0.6 percent and France's CAC 40 added 0.2 percent. In London, the FTSE 100 lost 0.1 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 added 1.6 percent and the Hang Seng of Hong Kong jumped 1.9 percent. The Kospi in South Korea gained 1 percent.

(BE)