Economics
S&P 500 Rises Toward Record as Forest Labs Offsets Data
This article is for subscribers only.
Most U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbing to within eight points of a record, as a $25 billion deal to acquire Forest Laboratories Inc. offset slower growth in New York-area manufacturing.
Forest Laboratories surged 28 percent after Actavis Plc agreed to buy the maker of the Alzheimer’s drug Namenda. Coca-Cola Co. dropped 3.8 percent as fourth-quarter profit fell. D.R. Horton Inc. and PulteGroup Inc. lost more than 1.2 percent as a gauge of homebuilder confidence declined by the most on record in February amid bad weather that hurt sales.