Stocks moving higher
Stocks are gaining shortly after the opening bell, following news aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) plans to buy its rival Alcan Inc. (NYSE: AL).
At 9:51 a.m. ET the Russell 2000 had added 1.09 points, or 0.13 percent, to 833.97. That’s above its record close of 833.80 on April 26. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 36.32 points, or 0.27 percent, to 13,330.94.
In business news, New York-based aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. wants to buy smaller rival Alcan Inc. for $26.9 billion, the company said before the start of trading. The bid is valued at $73.25 per Alcan share, a 20% premium over Friday’s closing price of $61.03.
If the acquisition goes through the new entity will be the largest aluminum company by production capacity in the world. Alcoa and Alcan held mergers talks in the fall of 2006 but were unable to strike a deal.
