Late push leaves US stock market mostly higher

Associated Press
Specialist Wingszi Chiang, left, and trader Fred DeMarco work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, April 28, 2014. Stocks are mostly higher in early trading as traders hope for another blockbuster merger in the health-care industry. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are ending a choppy day mostly higher as investors balanced enthusiasm over a possible merger in the health care industry with bad news from Bank of America.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 87 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 16,448 Monday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose six points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,869. The Nasdaq composite edged down a point to 4,074. The index erased most of a 61-point loss.

Pfizer rose 4 percent after renewing its push to buy rival drugmaker AstraZeneca.

Bank of America slid 6 percent after a financial error forced the bank to suspend plans to increase its dividend and buy back more of its stock.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.70 percent.