Associated Press
Tuesday, December 25, 2007

NEW YORK, Dec. 24 -- Wall Street advanced sharply Monday, boosted by news that Merrill Lynch will receive an investment of up to $6.2 billion from two investment groups. The Dow Jones industrial average rose nearly 100 points.

Trading volume was light in an abbreviated Christmas Eve session. Still, with just a handful of trading days left in 2007, investors were perhaps looking for any opportunity to tidy up their positions.

The Dow rose 98.68, or 0.73 percent, to 13,549.33. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added 11.99, or 0.81 percent, to 1496.45, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 21.51, or 0.80 percent, to 2713.50.

Merrill Lynch provided the only significant news of the day. The investment firm said it was receiving a widely expected cash infusion from Singapore's government-controlled investment fund, Temasek Holdings, and U.S.-based money manager Davis Selected Advisors. The proceeds were expected to cushion Merrill's mortgage-related write-downs for the fourth quarter.

Merrill also said it would sell most of its commercial finance unit to GE Capital. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. John A. Thain, who became chief executive last month, has said he plans to use asset sales to help streamline the company.

Monday's gains have some investors hoping for a year-end surge that often extends into the new year and can burnish portfolios. On Friday, the Dow rose more than 200 points and, along with the other major indicators, posted a gain of more than 1.5 percent for the session.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 4.21 percent from 4.17 percent late Friday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, and gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude rose 82 cents to $94.13 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Merrill Lynch fell $1.64, to $53.90, after selling a stake in itself to strengthen its balance sheet.

It joins a number of other global banks, including Citigroup, UBS, and Morgan Stanley, to secure a capital infusion to diffuse losses from the credit crisis.