US equities finished higher in fairly quiet trading on Monday, with the S&P 500 closing up (+2.2%) for a sixth straight session.
The bulk of the rally seemed to be driven by the heightened appetite for risk following the G20 meeting over the weekend, where policymakers agreed to maintain stimulus measures and refrained from addressing the weakness in the dollar. Kraft's bid for Cadbury arrived yesterday on the London Stock Exchange. It valued the company at £9.8bn, but was dismissed by the board as ‘derisory'. Trading elsewhere was strong, with the FTSE 100 finishing up 1.8%. This morning, markets have been boosted by strong trading updates from Barclays and HSBC, both of whom have been making money in investme...
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