Markets Right Now: Cable companies and banks boost stocks
By The Associated Press
The latest on developments in financial markets (All times local):
9:35 a.m.
U.S. stocks are starting the week higher as media companies gain.
Scripps Networks, the company behind HGTV and the Food Channel, gained 1.1 percent Monday after it agreed to be bought by Discovery Communications for $14.6 billion, or $90 per share.
Discovery shares lost 4.2 percent.
Charter Communications jumped 6.1 percent after the Wall Street Journal said Charter isn’t interested in buying Sprint.
HSBC gained 1.8 percent. The bank said higher interest rates helped it make more money for its lending business. It will also buy back $2 billion in stock.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 4 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,477.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 60 points, or 0.3 percent, to 21,890. The Nasdaq composite picked up 19 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,394.