U.S. Stocks Rise as Intel to Time Warner Gain Amid Deals

U.S. stocks advanced, with benchmark indexes trading near all-time highs, as companies from Time Warner Inc. to Intel Corp. rallied amid deals and earnings reports.

Time Warner surged 17 percent as Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. made a takeover bid that was rebuffed. Intel gained 9.3 percent as its third-quarter sales forecast fueled optimism the personal-computer market is emerging from a two-year slump.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX +0.42%) added 0.4 percent to 1,981.55 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 77.33 points, or 0.5 percent, to a record 17,138.01. The Russell 2000 Index of smaller companies fell 0.2 percent, after slumping 1 percent yesterday amid Federal Reserve concerns over valuations.

“I think Yellen might have derailed a few things yesterday, but today it’s back to earnings again and rightfully so,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co., which oversees $2 billion, said in a phone interview. “Earnings season is a big deal and you have a couple of big names that have looked good with many, many to come.”