Stocks Edged Higher as Market Braced for Political Jitters

U.S. stocks opened marginally higher on Monday as investors braced for any new developments in a probe of Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s alleged misuse of a private email server. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 10.62 points, or 0.06%, to 18,150.57. The S&P 500 gained 1.81 points, or 0.09%, to 2,128.22. The Nasdaq Composite rose 5.39 points, or 0.10%, to 5,195.49.

Consumer purchases climbed in September by the most in three months as incomes grew, signaling momentum in the biggest part of the U.S. economy.The 0.5 percent advance in spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, followed a 0.1 percent decline the prior month that was revised lower, a Commerce Department report showed Monday.

General Electric Co. reached a deal to combine its oil-and-gas business with Baker Hughes Inc., creating an energy powerhouse that would give GE a cost-effective way to play any recovery in the industry.

TeamHealth Holdings Inc. (TMH) said Monday it has agreed to be acquired by private-equity firm Blackstone BX, +0.76% in a deal valued at about $6.1 billion. Blackstone will pay $43.50 per TeamHealth share in cash, equal to a premium of about 33% over TeamHealth’s closing price on Oct. 3.

Level 3 Communications Inc. (LVLT) confirmed a deal to be acquired by CenturyLink Inc.(CTL). Under terms of the deal, CenturyLink will pay $26.50 a share in cash, and 1.4286 of its shares for each Level 3 share outstanding.

Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ) announced Monday a deal to buy Grupo Modelo’s brewery in Obregon, Mexico for $600 million.

Oil prices pulled back Monday on lingering negative sentiment around the proposed production cuts by major oil producing nations. The December contract for the global benchmark Brent was down 35 cents, or 0.7%, at 49.36 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate fell 25 cents, or 0.5% to $48.45.