TikTok Talks, M&A Revival Send Nasdaq To New High

The Nasdaq surged to a record high close on Monday as a rebound in multibillion-dollar deals, including Microsoft's pursuit of TikTok's US operations, lifted sentiment, and efforts to hammer out a coronavirus relief bill resumed.

Microsoft jumped 5.6 percent after it said it would push ahead with talks to buy the US operations of Chinese-owned TikTok. US President Donald Trump reversed course earlier on a planned ban of the short-video app.

ADT soared over 56 percent on news that Alphabet's Google was buying a nearly 7 percent stake in the home security firm for US$450 million in a deal that will allow it to provide service to customers of its Nest home security devices.

Varian Medical Systems Inc jumped 22 percent after a US$16 billion buyout by Germany's Siemens Healthineers, while Kansas City Southern gained after a report a group of buyout investors were considering a takeover bid in a deal of about US$20 billion.

"The market is revolving around M&A activity possibly picking up," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. "It means CEOs are more confident about the future. Otherwise, why would they lay out billions of dollars?"

Apple climbed 2.5 percent, expanding its rally following stunning quarterly results and announcing a four-for-one stock split. The tech giant is about US$140 billion short of hitting US$2 trillion in market capitalisation.

The S&P 500 information technology index jumped 2.5 percent, far outpacing other sector indexes.

A rally in tech-related stocks and trillions of dollars in monetary and fiscal stimulus have lifted the S&P 500 to within about 3 percent of February's record high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.89 percent to end at 26,664, while the S&P 500 gained 0.72 percent to 3,295.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.47 percent to 10,903, beating its previous record high close on July 20. (Reuters)