Stocks inch higher on Wall Street; Shaw soars

NEW YORK (AP) ? U.S. stocks crept higher in early Monday trading on Wall Street following big gains last week.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 22 points to 13,096 shortly after 10 a.m. Eastern. Cisco Systems led the 30 Dow stocks, surging 2 percent to $16.00.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is meeting Germany's finance minister and the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi on Monday. Draghi's pledge to do whatever was needed to protect the euro set off a market rally last week. The Dow rose back above 13,000 for the first time since May and is now up 1.7 percent for the month.

Two deals announced early Monday pushed stocks up. Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. agreed to buy Shaw Group for $3 billion in cash and stock. Shaw jumped 60 percent to $42.70.

Also, medical and industrial equipment maker Roper Industries plans to buy hospital software company Sunquest Information Systems for $1.42 billion. The company also raised its earnings estimate for the year, a result of the pending merger and a stronger dollar. Roper gained 9 percent to $107.68. Sunquest is privately owned.

In other trading, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index is up two points to 1,388, while the Nasdaq is up five points to 2,963.

Supermarket operator Supervalu rose 7 cents to $2.06 after the company announced that it would oust its CEO. Earlier this month the Minneapolis company reported weaker sales and profits and suspended its dividend. Supervalu also said it may put itself up for sale.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-inch-higher-wall-street-shaw-soars-142700017--business.html

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