Overseas markets rose following upbeat economic reports in Asia and growing hopes European leaders will complete a bailout for debt-burdened Greece.
US markets are getting a boost from mergers and acquisitions activity for the second straight day. CF Industries made another offer for fertilizer maker Terra Industries, which last month agreed to be sold to Norway’s Yara for $4.1 billion.
Signs of improvement in overseas economies bolstered the market. Japan’s unemployment rate dropped for the second straight month in January and household spending grew — hopeful signs for recovery in the world’s second-largest economy. Australia’s central bank continues to reduce stimulus measures as the nation’s economy rebounds. It increased a key interest rate to 4 percent. Greece’s debt problems have added volatility to markets around the world for more than a month. Investors are worried that the country’s rising debt problems will spread and upend a global recovery. Traders have welcomed any signs of a resolution by bidding shares higher, though nothing official has been hammered out between Greece’s government and other European leaders.
In the US, investors could get details on potential new banking regulations. Senate negotiators are closing in on a deal that would create a new consumer protection agency within the Federal Reserve. The House has passed a bill that would create a separate entity to regulate everything from credit cards to mortgages.
Uncertainty surrounding potential changes to bank regulations have dogged the market in recent months. On Monday, major stock market indexes closed at their highest levels in more than a month and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Nasdaq composite index erased their losses for the year.
In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 39.45, or 0.4 percent, to 10,443.24. The broader S&P 500 index rose 5.52, or 0.5 percent, to 1,121.23, and the Nasdaq rose 11.17, or 0.5 percent, to 2,284.74.
Bond prices fell, pushing yields higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.64 percent from 3.61 percent late Monday.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies. Gold prices rose.
Two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange where volume came to 140.6 million shares compared with 147.3 million shares traded at the same point Monday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.30, or 0.5 percent, to 645.95.
