Better together: Wall Street’s deal-making renaissance shows no sign of slowing. Heinz’s $45 billion acquisition of Kraft Foods, announced today, has helped maintain the steadily building momentum in the market for mergers and acquisitions. As The Associated Press reports, so far this year companies globally have struck deals worth $802 billion, according to data provider Dealogic. That compares with $733 billion in the first quarter of 2014 and makes it the best first quarter for deal-making in at least five years. Read the full story.
Falling demand: Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting manufactured goods fell in February, the third drop in the past four months, while a key investment category declined for a sixth month. Orders for durable goods dropped 1.4% in February following a 2% increase in January and declines of 3.7% in December and 2.2% in November, the Commerce Department announced today. A key category that serves as a proxy for business investment spending retreated 1.4% in February, the sixth consecutive monthly decline. The Associated Press has the full story.
In the black: U.S. crude oil inventories grew by 8.2 million barrels this week, according to data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. FuelFix.com reports the build brings the total amount of crude the U.S. has in storage to 466.7 million barrels, a record in weekly data stretching back to 1982. In monthly data, crude oil inventories are at the highest level since 1930. This week’s gain came in well ahead of analysts’ expectations. The average of eight estimates compiled by Bloomberg predicted a gain of about 4.9 million barrels. Read the full story.
