An index of Colorado stocks rose to an all-time closing high today, led by advances in IHS Inc. and Vail Resorts Inc.
U.S. stocks rallied as $35.2 billion in takeovers and falling oil prices sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a six- year high.
Bank of New York Co. jumped after agreeing to buy Mellon Financial Corp., creating the world’s largest custodian of assets for institutional investors. Technology stocks climbed on LSI Logic Corp.’s proposed purchase of Agere Systems Inc., a maker of semiconductors for mobile phones.
Drugmakers rose as investors bet Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, will turn to acquisitions to spur growth after the failure of an experimental cholesterol drug. Shares of Pfizer had their biggest decline in two years.
The bids are “crosscutting sectors,” said James Awad, who oversees about $1.3 billion as chairman of Awad Asset Management in New York. “Stock valuations remain too cheap.” The Bloomberg Colorado Index, a price-weighted index of companies based in the state, added 3.92, or 1 percent, to 382.81. Sixty-three stocks advanced, 37 declined and 10 were unchanged.
IHS, an Englewood-based provider of energy and engineering information, rose $1.76 to $38.79. Vail Resorts, a Vail-based ski resort operator, added $1.68 to $45.66.
Sliding Stocks Among stocks that declined, MDC Holdings Inc., the eighth- largest U.S. homebuilder by market value, lost $1.01 to $55.87. Energy company American Oil & Gas Inc. fell 40 cents to $7.30. Both companies are based in Denver.
The Bloomberg Colorado Index was developed with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1994. Its members have a minimum market value of $10 million. The index set reached an all-time high of 383.23 in intraday trading today. The 52-week low of 320.78 was on Dec. 2, 2005. The index has gained 17 percent this year.
The S&P 500 added 12.41, or 0.9 percent, to 1409.12, its highest close since Nov. 8, 2000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 89.72, or 0.7 percent, to 12,283.85, its first advance in three days. The 11 percent plunge in Pfizer kept the indexes from bigger gains.
The Nasdaq Composite Index, which gets 42 percent of its value from computer-related shares, gained 35.18, or 1.5 percent, to 2448.39.
