Technology Companies, Retailers Send U.S. Stock Indexes Higher

U.S. stocks rose Monday as a mix of smaller, U.S.-focused companies, technology firms and banks climbed. Drugmakers struggled, which limited those gains.

Retailers and smaller companies rose for the third day in a row as their latest quarterly reports have investors feeling better about the U.S. economy and the amount of shopping people are likely to do over the holidays. Technology companies rose following another deal between chipmakers, and industrial companies also posted gains.

Companies that sell opioid pain medications tumbled after the government released a new, much higher estimate of the costs of the ongoing addiction crisis. Merck fell after a good report from competitor Roche about a drug that competes with Merck’s cancer medication Keytruda.

Trading was relatively light. That’s probably going to be the case throughout the week as the Thanksgiving break approaches and investors turn their attention to 2018.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 3.29 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,582.14. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 72.09 points, or 0.3 percent, to 23,430.33. The Nasdaq composite advanced 7.92 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,790.71. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks climbed 10.57 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,503.40.

Chipmaker Marvell Technology Group said it will buy competitor Cavium for $6 billion. Cavium jumped $8.19, or 10.8 percent, to $84.02 and it’s up 22 percent over the last two weeks on reports Marvell would make a bid. Marvell rose $1.30, or 6.4 percent, to $21.59.

Other technology companies also rose. IBM added $1.54, or 1 percent, to $150.51 and Cisco Systems gained 60 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $36.50.

Allergan gave up $3.76, or 2.2 percent, to $171.12 and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries fell 76 cents, or 5.5 percent, to $13.08. Insys Therapeutics shed 17 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $5.20. Executives including Insys’ founder and its former CEO have been charged with offering kickbacks to doctors to get them to prescribe its fentanyl spray Subsys. Its stock traded above $40 in mid-2015.

Merck stumbled after Genentech, a unit of Swiss drugmaker Roche, reported positive results from a study of its drug Tecentriq as a primary treatment for lung cancer. Genentech said patients who were given Tecentriq as part of their treatment regimen were less likely to die or see their cancer get worse.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 46 cents to $56.09 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, dropped 50 cents to $62.22 a barrel in London.

Wholesale gasoline stayed at $1.74 a gallon. Heating oil lost 1 cent to $1.93 a gallon. Natural gas slipped 5 cents to $3.05 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The dollar rose to 112.67 yen from 112.13 yen late Friday. The euro slipped to $1.1732 from $1.1796 after a group of German political parties couldn’t agree to form a government, which might mean elections are on the way.

A weaker euro is good for companies that export a lot of products, and the German DAX was up 0.7 percent while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.5 percent. The FTSE 100 in Britain added 0.2 percent.

Gold slumped $21.20, or 1.6 percent, to $1,275.30 an ounce. Silver sank 53 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $16.84 an ounce. Copper gained 3 cents to $3.09 a pound.

Bond prices edged lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.36 percent from 2.35 percent.