Surge in oil, Apple boosts U.S. stocks

By Tanya Agrawal

REUTERS - Wall Street was higher on Monday after a bruising week, bolstered by a bounce in Apple shares, while surging oil prices fired up energy stocks.

The iPhone maker's shares were up 2.9 percent at $93.15 after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reported a stake worth about $1 billion in the company. The stock gave the biggest boost to the three indexes.

Oil jumped more than 2 percent to its highest in six months due to disruptions in Nigerian output and after long-time bear Goldman Sachs said the market had ended almost two years of oversupply and flipped to a deficit.

U.S. stocks fell on Friday as gloomy quarterly reports from retailers overshadowed upbeat April retail sales data, leaving the Dow and the S&P 500 lower for the third straight week.

The retail sector is in focus again, with Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target scheduled to report quarterly results this week.

"Some acquisitions, news of Berkshire taking a stake in Apple and higher oil prices are driving the market," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.

"I think the markets should stay here most of the day."

At 10:58 a.m. ET (1458 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 111.56 points, or 0.64 percent, at 17,646.88, the S&P 500 was up 12.88 points, or 0.63 percent, at 2,059.49 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 38.45 points, or 0.82 percent, at 4,756.13.

Eight of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the energy index's 1.23 percent rise leading the gainers.

Schlumberger was up 2.1 percent at $73.90, providing the biggest boost to the sector.

While the S&P 500 has risen about 15 percent since February lows, that rally fizzled out in the last few weeks due to disappointing corporate earnings and mixed economic data.

Tribune Publishing was up 22.6 percent at $14.06 after Gannett raised its buyout offer to $15 per share. Gannett was down 0.2 percent at $15.66.

Anacor Pharmaceuticals soared 54.6 percent to $99.01 after Pfizer said it would buy the drugmaker in a deal valued at $5.2 billion. Pfizer was little changed at $33.17.

Memorial Resource Development jumped 8.9 percent to $14.65 after Range Resources said it would buy fellow oil and gas producer for about $3.3 billion. Range Resources was down 5.7 percent at $39.58.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,371 to 516. On the Nasdaq, 1,925 issues rose and 708 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed eight new 52-week highs and three new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 25 new highs and 32 new lows.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal and Yashaswini Swamynathan; Editing by Anil D'Silva)