S&P 500 Ends at Record on M&A Activity

The S&P 500 edged up to close at a record on Monday as deal activity worth $100 billion offset concerns about overseas growth after Japan’s economy slipped into recession. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 13.01 points, or 0.07%, to 17,647.75. the S&P 500 gained 1.50 points, or 0.07%, to 2,041.32. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 17.54 points, or 0.37%, to 4,671.00.

Botox maker Allergan Inc on Monday accepted a $66 billion takeover bid from Actavis Plc , ending a seven-month hostile pursuit by activist investor William Ackman and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.

Urban Outfitters Inc. and Agilent Technologies Inc. are slated to report quarterly results Monday after closing bell. Urban Outfitters (URBN) is forecast to report third-quarter earnings of 41 cents a share. AgilentTechnologies (A) is projected to post fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 67 cents a share.

The U.S. dollar gained against the euro and a basket of currencies on Monday after European Central Bank officials spoke of possible further actions to boost the region’s struggling economy and Japan unexpectedly slipped into recession.