Dow near high as bulls get bolder BLUE chips rose to within 1 per cent of all-time highs, as reports of corporate deal-making and an upbeat reading on German investor sentiment emboldened stockmarket bulls. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 46 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 14,027 in midafternoon Tuesday trading as investors returned from the three-day Presidents Day holiday weekend. The S&P 500 advanced eight points, or 0.5 per cent, to 1528, after capping its seventh-straight weekly gain, the longest such stretch since January 2011. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 11 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 3203. "You don't get a pullback just because you've had a nice run," said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab. You need a catalyst and we haven't had that yet. This market, in the absence of any bad news, wants to go up. OfficeMax jumped 21 per cent and Office Depot surged 10 per cent after The Wall Street Journal reported the companies are in advanced talks to merge in a stock-for-stock deal. A 12 per cent climb in rival Staples led gains among S&P 500 components. "Companies are starting to move cash, which has been building up in the last decade," said Greg Peterson, director of investment research at Ballentine Partners LLC, which manages $US4.2 billion in Waltham, Mass. That would be a supporting theme to this healing of the economy: Companies are gaining confidence. Humana tumbled 6.6 per cent, the biggest decline among S&P 500 components, after a government agency proposed reimbursing insurance companies for Medicare Advantage, a health-care plan for seniors, at a lower rate than some analysts expected. UnitedHealth notched the biggest drop among blue chips, and Cigna pulled back as well. Google rose 1.1 per cent, topping $US800 for the first time, something few other stocks have done. The search giant's shares are up more than 13 per cent this year, nearly double the advance of the S&P 500. European markets were broadly higher, with the Stoxx Europe 600 rising 1.1 per cent to a three-week high. The German ZEW survey's economic expectations index for February rose to 48.2, well above forecasts of 35.0 and the highest level seen since April 2010. Germany's DAX index gained 1.1 per cent. Asian markets were mostly lower, with China's Shanghai Composite sliding 1.6 per cent on worries that China's government would take steps to slow the rise in property prices over the coming weeks. The index slipped 0.4 per cent on Monday after the market reopened following the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average slipped 0.3 per cent. The meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries over the weekend didn't mention Japan as intentionally trying to weaken its currency, as some investors feared they might. Front-month March crude-oil futures increased 0.1 per cent to $US96.51 a barrel, while February gold futures slipped 0.3 per cent to $US1604.20 an ounce. The US dollar weakened against the euro and the yen. The 10-year Treasury note rose in price to yield 2.002 per cent. In other corporate news, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers leapt 22 per cent after the casual-dining chain reported its fourth-quarter profit doubled amid more traffic and higher average checks. Express Scripts climbed 2.2 per cent after the drug-benefit programs manager reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue, and provided an upbeat 2013 earnings outlook. Medtronic slumped 2.8 per cent after the medical-device maker's fourth-quarter revenue fell short of analysts' predictions. General Mills rose 1.6 per cent after saying it plans to return more cash to shareholders in its 2014 fiscal year, through increased stock buybacks and dividends. Genuine Parts fell 4 per cent after the operator of NAPA auto-parts stores reported revenue growth that fell short of its forecast. Sealed Air jumped 18 per cent after the plastic-packaging company reported a fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts' views. Dell was little changed ahead of its earnings report, due after the closing bell. Herbalife, also scheduled to report earnings, advanced 4 per cent.