Stocks rallied after Caterpillar’s upbeat results and some merger-and-acquisition deals pulled in buyers. U.S. housing finance agencies unveiled changes aimed at helping troubled homeowners, who owe more than 125% of the market value of their homes, to get new loans. Tech sector advanced on gains in Apple and chip stocks. Also in the spotlight was RightNow Technologies which soared 19.4% after Oracle said it will acquire the co. for $1.5 billion or $43 a share. HealthSpring soared 34% after Cigna agreed to pay $3.8 billion in cash to acquire the company. Also Google rose 1% on media-report that the co. has talked with at least two private-equity firms about financing a deal to acquire Yahoo, which rose 3.7% after the report. In the evening trade Netflix slid 27% as the co. said it expects fourth-quarter earnings of $0.36 to $0.70 a share, sharply below expectations. Texas Instruments also fell 0.9% after weaker-than-expected earnings forecast. Implied volatility inched lower on very light trading volumes.NEAREST RESISTANCE LEVELS:
NEAREST SUPPORT LEVELS: 58.4, 58.3, 57.0, 56.8,
