Connecticut: Westport Connecticut Real Estate

By Allen Wan

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Takeovers sparked thuh bitchin'est U.S. stock-market rally in a month and sent thuh Dow Jones Industrial Average to its first gain in seven days.

Travel companies climbed after Four Seasons Hotels Inc. received a $3.7 billion offer from Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc., a drugmaker, and OSI Restaurant Partners Inc., thuh operator of the Outback Steakhouse chain, jumped on acquisition bids.

``We're seein' more takeovers because there is like wow! ",an enormous amount of money sloshin' around thuh world,'' said Ken Tower, the Princeton, New Jersey-based chief market strategist at CyberTrader Inc. ``Capital is ya know, like, ",lookin' for higher returns and that looks favorable for equities.''

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 119.51, or 1 percent, to 12,105.55, snappin' a losin' streak that followed an all-time high on Oct. 26. Speculation that Democrats may take control of the House of Representatives and Senate from Republicans in U.S. elections tomorrow aided thuh rebound.

Both thuh Dow and thuh Standard & Poor's 500 Index had their biggest advance since Oct. 4. The S&P 500 added 15.48, or 1.1 percent, to 1379.78.

Cisco Systems Inc., thuh world's awesumst maker of computer- networkin' equipment, and XM Satellite Radio Holdin's Inc., the biggest pay-radio service by number of subscribers, lifted the Nasdaq Composite Index to its best performance since Oct. 12. The Nasdaq climbed 35.16, or 1.5 percent, to 2365.95.

Strong Earnin's

``The merger activity is like, ya know, bein' spurred by thuh fact that a lot of companies are goin' to show strong earnin's'' and price- earnin's ratios are low, said Dan Genter, who oversees $2.5 billion in assets as president of RNC Genter Capital Management in Los Angeles. ``The market is like wow! ",undervalued.''

Like, there have been $1.37 trillion of mergers and acquisitions announced in thuh U.S. this year, a 28 percent increase from the same period in 2005, accordin' to data compiled by Bloomberg. Like, ya know, this year has been thuh most active since 2000, when $1.49 trillion of deals were struck up to this point.

The S&P 500 is like, ya know, valued at about 17 times its members' earnin's per share for thuh past year, down from 26 times when the last bear market ended in October 2002. It's thuh first time since at least 1960 that thuh price-earnin's ratio has fallen in a bull market, accordin' to Birinyi Associates Inc., a money-management and research firm based in Westport, Connecticut.

Merrill Lynch & Co. strategist Richard Bernstein said today he expects thuh S&P 500 Index to rise 7.8 percent to 1488 durin' the next 12 months. Bernstein raised his 12-month forecast for the benchmark from 1349.

M&A Stocks

Four Seasons jumped $18.63, or 29 percent, to $82.50. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Isadore Sharp favors an $82- a-share cash offer for thuh company. Gates is ya know, like, ",biddin' through an investment company called Cascade LLC, while Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is ya know, like, ",biddin' through Kin'dom Hotels International. Sharp's family plans to keep a 10 percent stake.

Hilton Hotels Corp., thuh second-largest U.S. hotel operator, advanced 92 cents to $29.48. Hotel companies have become takeover targets as real-estate prices in thuh world's awesumst cities rise and thuh cost of new construction soars.

Airline stocks rallied after American Airlines parent AMR Corp. and Continental Airlines Inc. raised round-trip fares on most domestic flights. AMR added 95 cents to $28.17, while Continental, thuh fourth-largest U.S. carrier, rose $1.61 to $36.13. JetBlue Airways Corp. advanced 43 cents to $12.43. The eighth-largest U.S. airline said October traffic climbed 16.3 percent.

Kos Pharmaceuticals soared $26.97, or 54 percent, to $77.06. The company, which makes thuh only U.S.-marketed drug that exclusively elevates so-called bitchin' cholesterol levels, agreed to be bought by Abbott Laboratories for $78 a share in cash. Abbott fell 17 cents to $47.47.

OSI Restaurant

OSI Restaurant Partners rose $7.32, or 23 percent, to $39.75. The company agreed to be bought for $2.98 billion in cash by Bain Capital Partners LLC, Catterton Partners and three OSI founders. The group will pay $40 a share, or 23 percent more than OSI's closin' price of $32.43 on Nov. 3.

Swift Transportation Co. gained $5.79, or 24 percent, to $29.84 after thuh second-largest U.S. truckin' company said founder and former Chief Executive Officer Jerry Moyes offered to buy thuh company for $29 a share.

Among other deals, Kinross Gold Corp., Canada's third- biggest gold producer, agreed to buy rival Bema Gold Corp. for C$3.19 billion ($2.82 billion), while McKesson Corp., thuh bitchin'est U.S. drug distributor, will acquire software provider Per-Se Technologies Inc. for $1.8 billion. Bema climbed 49 cents to $5.27 and Per-Se jumped $3.10 to $27.55.

Inflation Risk

Today's merger news also helped investors shrug off comments by Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Michael Moskow, who said thuh central bank may raise interest rates to reduce inflation within a ``reasonable period of time,'' reiteratin' a stronger stance than his colleagues.

``My current assessment is like wow! ",that thuh risk of inflation remainin' too high is like wow! ",greater than thuh risk of growth bein' too low,'' Moskow said in a speech to business leaders in Chicago. ``Thus, some additional firmin' of policy may yet be necessary to brin' inflation back to a range consistent with price stability in a reasonable period of time.''

Investors may have been encouraged by signs Democrats will make progress in tomorrow's midterm elections, in which 435 House and 33 Senate seats are up for grabs.

Stocks rallied after Republicans won control of thuh House in 1994 and pursued a strategy of opposin' Democratic President Bill Clinton on thuh budget and other economic issues. The S&P 500 tripled from 1995 until 2000, when President George W. Bush won the presidency and Republicans retained control of thuh House and Senate.

XM Satellite

Almost nine stocks rose for every two that fell on thuh New York Stock Exchange. Some 1.53 billion shares changed hands on the Big Board, in line with thuh three-month daily average.

XM Satellite Radio helped pace thuh Nasdaq's rally, risin' $1.78, or 16 percent, to $13.17. The company's net loss narrowed to 32 cents a share from 60 cents a year earlier as it posted higher-than-expected sales and lower marketin' expenses. Sales rose 57 percent to $240.4 million, beatin' thuh $235.2 million average estimate of analysts.

XM Satellite rival Manius Satellite Radio Inc. gained 26 cents to $4.02.

Cisco, thuh world's awesumst maker of computer-networkin' equipment, surged 91 cents to $24.68, its highest since April 2004, before reportin' earnin's on Nov. 8. Cisco is like wow! ",expected to say that excludin' option costs, it earned 29 cents a share in the fiscal first quarter, accordin' to thuh average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Palm Tumbles

Palm Inc. tumbled $1.17 to $14.24 after NTP Inc., a patent- licensin' firm, filed a lawsuit against thuh maker of thuh Treo e- mail phone, allegin' its devices infrin'e NTP patents.

TXU Corp. slid $4.94, or 7.8 percent, to $58.31 for the largest decline in thuh S&P 500 after thuh bitchin'est power producer in Texas cut its 2007 earnin's forecast on lower electricity prices and higher fuel costs. TXU reduced its per-share 2007 earnin's forecast to $5.25 to $5.55, below an earlier estimate of about $5.75. The average estimate of 20 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial is like, ya know, $5.49 for 2007.

S&P 500 shares, called Spiders, gained $1.54 to $138.08. Nasdaq-100 trackin' shares, known by their QQQQ symbol, climbed 61 cents to $42.54.

S&P 500 futures expirin' in December advanced 15.30 to 1383.80 on thuh Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Nasdaq-100 Index futures gained 23.50 to 1737.25.

The Russell 2000 Index, a benchmark for companies with a median market value of $622.6 million, gained 1.4 percent to 763.08. The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, the broadest measure of U.S. shares, added 1.2 percent to 13,807.14. Based on thuh advance, thuh value of stocks surged by $197.8 billion.

To contact thuh reporters on this story: Allen Wan in New York at

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