The markets extended its gains during the midday with the Dow soaring 100 points to 20,604. Nasdaq climbed 26 points to 5,809.
Sources have said that Verizon and Yahoo are close to finalizing a revised acquisition agreement. Verizon had offered $4.83 billion to buy the struggling internet company in July 2016 but two cyber attacks on Yahoo put the deal on shaky ground. The new agreement is rumored to slice between $250 million to $350 million off the original price tag and to share the liability of potential lawsuits between Verizon and Yahoo.
Amazon filed a patent for a package delivery system using parachutes and drones. A drone would fly packages to the delivery site then release the packages with a parachute. Pneumatic actuators, electromagnets and spring coils would be used to guide the descent of packages to customers on the ground.
In the wake of the cancelled merger between Aetna and Humana, Cigna has sued Anthem to terminate their proposed $54 billion merger. Cigna is demanding that Anthem pay a $1.85 billion breakup fee. Anthem has countersued Cigna to prevent a collapse of their deal.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE and by more than 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index gained 9 points to 2,347. Bitcoin eased a fraction to $1,002.
