U.S. stocks bounced back as investors found confidence in Dell’s deal to go private in the biggest leveraged buyout in years. Dell rose 1.1% after the co. agreed to be taken private in a deal valued at $24.4 billion. Also on the deal front, Virgin Media jumped 17.9% after the co. said it was in talks with Liberty Global about “a possible transaction.” On the economic front, U.S. home prices climbed 0.4% in December to bring the year-on-year gain to 8.3%, the best advance since May 2006. The ISM’s services index fell to 55.2% in January from 55.7% in December, but still above 50%. Tech stocks gained on news from Dell. Also, Computer Sciences rose 9.2% after the co. reported upbeat fiscal third-quarter results. Zynga climbed 7% after Bank of America/Merrill Lynch raised its rating on the firm to buy from underperform, citing factors such as “asset value and mobile stabilization.” Of the 56% of companies that have reported fourth-quarter earnings, nearly 69% have beaten estimates, according; nearly 66% of those 278 companies reported revenue that topped forecasts. In the evening trade Zynga climbed 4.7% on heavy volume as quarterly results and revenue came in well ahead of expectations. Also, Walt Disney climbed 1.8% on better-than-expected quarterly results.
