US open: Stocks bounce back at quarter-end

Stocks are registering modest gains at quarter-end, helped by record-breaking levels of deal-making.

At 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was adding 0.46% or 108.31 points to trade at 23,957.94, alongside a rise of 0.46% or 11.42 points on the S&P 500 to 2,636.34 and a 0.35% or 27.46 point gain for the Nasdaq Composite to 6,976.53.

Pacing gains in New York were: Marine Transportation (3.57%), Drug retailers (2.85%), Iron&Steel (2.43%), Internet (2.01%) and Heavy Construction (1.90%).

Alongside those advancers, the CBoE's volatility index was coming down by 6.12% to 21.47.

Despite the slight gains on offer, CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Looking back over recent events, as we come to the end of what will be a negative month, and a negative quarter for stocks, it’s probably an opportune time to analyse recent events to determine how we got here. The quarter started in such a promising fashion with new records as well as multi year highs being set, as January came and went.

"The passing of tax reform proposals in the US should have been the catalyst for further gains, along with an improving jobs market and rising wages, while economic activity indicators across Europe were at much higher levels than they are now. Since then the wheels have come off to a certain extent, and as we head into Q2 investors will have to decide over the Easter break whether the worst is over or whether there is more to come."

Dealmaking surpasses Q1 2017 record

Corporate dealmaking volumes rose past $1.2trn over the first quarter of 2018, marking the fastest start ever in M&A for a year, the FT reported, citing Thomson Reuters data.

Activity ws 67% higher versus 2017 and roughly a third more than in 2007, when the previous record was set.

Underscoring the intensity of recent M&A, overnight CME Group clinched a deal to buy NEX Group for £3.9bn. It came alongside the acquisition of RSP Permian by Concho Resources for $8.0bn.

In other corporate news, Constellation Brands was higher after the release of its fourth-quarter results, which saw the company lift its dividend by 42%.

GameStop's shares on the other hand were down by nearly 12% after the video game retailer issued full-year earnings per share guidance the midpoint of which, at $3.18, was well below the $3.32 analysts polled by FactSet had penciled-in.

Meanwhile, Amazon.com was down by a further 1.49% after the US president again took aim at the internet retailer on Twitter.

Stock in Facebook was trading 3.71% higher at $158.71.

In economic news, the Department of Labor reported a 12,000 person drop in the number of initial weekly unemployment claims to reach 215,000 (consensus: 230,000), sparking talk of a drop in the rate of unemployment below 4%.

Separately, the Department of Commerce said real personal spending was flat in February after dipping by 0.2% in the month before, as Americans rebuilt their depleted personal savings after a surge in spending at the end of 2017. Nevertheless, personal income and spending printed in-line with forecasts last month, at up by 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively.

The latest readings on MNI's Chicago purchasing managers' index and the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index came in shy of forecasts.