The markets advanced during the midday with the Dow gaining 82 points to 18,168. Nasdaq soared 59 points to 5,259.
Bowing to pressure from shareholders, American International Group will sell some of its businesses to Fairfax Financial Holdings. Fairfax Financial will pay approximately $240 million in cash to acquire certain AIG operations in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela and Turkey. AIG sold its mortgage guaranty unit to Arch Capital Group in August for approximately $3.4 billion.
M&M's unveiled a new caramel flavored M&M. The new flavor has a soft caramel center that is covered in milk chocolate, then enclosed by a colorful candy shell. The candy maker is building a new factory in Topeka, Kansas to make M&M's Caramel. Consumers will have to wait until May 2017 to buy the latest M&M creation.
Netflix has conceded that expanding into China has been more problematic than the streaming service anticipated. A year ago, chief executive Reed Hastings announced plans to introduce its service to every Asian country, including China. But, a restrictive regulatory environment has halted Netflix's ambitious expansion plans. Instead, the company will license content to local media distributors.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 soared 15 points to 2,141. Bitcoin slipped $1 to $635.
