US STOCKS-Wall Street indexes gain on M&A news, earnings

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 23 - U.S. stocks rose on Monday as
takeover news and strong profits from large caps, such as Merck
& Co. , reassured investors after a broad-based sell-off
at the end of last week.




Merck, a Dow component, reported quarterly results that
beat analysts' expectations while Halliburton Co. , the
world's second-largest oil services company, also topped
forecasts and its shares rose to their highest since June
2006.


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