US stocks rose on Wednesday, buoyed by speculation about a possible bidding war in the aluminium sector for Canada's Alcan and as retailer Target Corp posted stronger-than-expected profit. Alcan Inc said it is in discussions with third parties after it rejected an unsolicited take-over bid from US rival Alcoa Inc on Tuesday.
Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper said Alcan was in talks with global mining company BHP Billiton Ltd. Shares of Alcoa rose to their highest in more than five years in heavy trading. A steady stream of take-overs, record share buybacks and stronger-than-expected earnings have helped push the Dow to record after record and put the S&P 500 on track to set an all-time closing high.
The S&P 500 has crossed the 1,527.46 record closing level during the past two sessions but has so far been unable to hold on to its gains at the end of the day. The record was set on March 24, 2000 - in the last throes of the dot-com bubble.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 53.07 points, or 0.39 percent, at 13,593.02, after earlier hitting an all-time high of 13,609.76. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 7.28 points, or 0.48 percent, at 1,531.40. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 11.12 points, or 0.43 percent, at 2,599.14.
Target's higher-than-expected quarterly earnings helped lift the lagging retail sector. The S&P Retail index has gained just a little more than 5 percent since March 14, when the market hit its low for the year, versus a rebound of more than 10 percent by the S&P 500. The retail index advanced 1.2 percent. Target's stock rose 2.5 percent to $59.52.