Market opens up on Bear offer, financial shares : US Business

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened higher on Monday after news that JPMorgan Chase & Co was in talks to quintuple its offer to buy Bear Stearns Cos , while a further decline in commodity prices eased inflation concerns.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 41.19 points, or 0.33 percent, to 12,402.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 4.36 points, or 0.33 percent, at 1,333.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 10.99 points, or 0.49 percent, at 2,269.10.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by James Dalgleish)

(c) Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.