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Gainful start for U.S. stocks
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March 8, 1999: 10:17 a.m. ET
A batch of mergers and bullish news help Wall St. build on Friday's rally
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stocks opened mixed Monday but quickly headed higher, extending Friday's stellar market gains amid a resurgence of bullish sentiment on the economy, a series of corporate mergers and stock-boosting news from the technology sector.
At around 10 a.m. the Dow Jones industrial average rose 7.07 points to 9,743.15, charging further into record territory and toward 10,000 after Friday's nearly 3 percent gain. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange reached 84 million shares, with declines leading advances 1,134 to 1,060.
The Nasdaq Composite surged 27.51, or 1.2 percent, to 2,364.62, while the S&P 500 index gained 2.57 to 1,278.04.
The bond market headed higher, building on Friday's strong rally, brought on by a friendly February jobs report. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond traded 10/32 of a point higher in price, for a yield of 5.57 percent.
The dollar, however, halted its recent rally against the yen, and especially against the euro, after Bundesbank President Hans Tietmeyer was quoted by a newspaper as saying the European Central Bank shouldn't ease interest rates, partly to avoid further weakness in the euro.
Techs take control
Still excited over Friday's strong rally, investors in the technology sector found more bullish news waiting for them when the market opened Monday, after the Federal Trade Commission announced it had settled its antitrust lawsuit against Intel, a day before the case was scheduled to go to court.
Shares of Intel (INTC) rallied 2-3/4 to 117-3/8 following the announcement. Both Intel and the FTC filed for dismissal of the case, describing the settlement as a win-win situation for both sides.
Elsewhere in the tech sector, shares of Novell soared 3-3/16, or nearly 16 percent, to 23-5/16 after Barron's ran a story over the weekend suggesting Novell could be in talks with Compaq Computer (CPQ) to develop new products. Compaq's stock gained 15/16 to 35-3/16.
Meanwhile, shares of Microsoft (MSFT) climbed 2 to 156-15/16, Cisco Systems (CSCO) rose 2-1/16 to 102-7/8 and Dow member IBM (IBM) inched up 1/8 to 178-1/2. Dell Computer (DELL) advanced 1-1/16 to trade at 44-1/8 after its stock split 2-for-1 Friday.
Mergers on the menu
Garbage hauler Browning-Ferris (BFI) rallied 5 to 39-3/4, a gain of more than 14 percent, after smaller rival Allied Waste Industries (AW) said it would pay $45 a share for the company, taking over Browning-Ferris in a cash and debt deal valued at over $9 billion.
Shares of Allied Waste jumped 2-3/4 to 17-3/4, a climb of more than 18 percent. The merger of the two will create the world's second-largest solid waste management company.
And shares of CIT Group (CIT) rose 1-1/4 to 32 after the finance giant said it is buying Newcourt Credit Group, Canada's largest non-bank lender, for $4.2 billion. News of the deal prompted Merrill Lynch to upgrade its CIT Group rating to "near-term accumulate" from "neutral" and "long-term buy" from "accumulate." 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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