Stocks jumped Tuesday as better-than-expected quarterly results from Merck and Barclays reassured investors, and the weaker U.S. dollar boosted commodity prices and shares. In economic news, the Empire State Index—a report on New York manufacturing—rose much more than expected in February. In company news, the biggest U.S. owner of shopping malls, Simon Property Group, made a $10 billion hostile-takeover bid for troubled rival, General Growth. The deal would allow the second-biggest owner of shopping malls to emerge from bankruptcy protection. The dollar fell versus the euro and gained versus the yen. It's weakness versus the euro helped dollar-traded commodities. Light sweet crude oil for March delivery rose $2.88 to $77.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold for April delivery rose $29.80 to $1,119.80 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 169.67, or 1.7 percent, to 10,268.81. Twenty-eight of the index's 30 components gained, led by Boeing, United Technologies, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, 3M, Caterpillar, and Procter & Gamble. Financial companies gained as well—including American Express and Bank of America—as part of a bigger rally in the sector after British bank Barclays said profit more than doubled last year. Merck reported higher quarterly revenue that surpassed estimates, and shares of the pharmaceutical giant rose 1 percent. Kraft Foods reported higher quarterly profits that beat estimates, but shares of the food maker fell 1.5 percent. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 19.36, or 1.8 percent, to 1,094.87. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 30.66, or 1.4 percent, to 2,214.19. The New York Stock Exchange composite index rose 138.79 to 7,013. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 16.29 to 1,857.23. And the Russell 2000 index rose 10.12 to 620.84.
