The markets extended its gains during the midday with the Dow climbing 82 points to 19,981. Nasdaq gained 37 points to 5,525.
Volkswagen was close to finalizing a deal with the Justice Department to settle allegations of diesel emissions cheating. The German automaker may agree to pay up to $4 billion, implement reforms and accept oversight from an outside monitor. Volkswagen had already agreed to spend up to $17.5 billion to resolve claims from U.S. vehicle owners as well as federal and state regulators.
WikiLeaks tweeted that it would publish the personal information of thousands of Twitter users. WikiLeaks claimed that releasing the information would allow for the study of networks and the development of a "metric to understand influence networks based on proximity graphs." Twitter users have protested the move by WikiLeaks.
AT&T's proposed $85.6 billion acquisition of Time Warner may be able to avoid regulatory review by the Federal Communications Commission. Because Time Warner does not intend to transfer any of its FCC licenses to AT&T, the FCC does not need to approve the deal. An FCC review can also be avoided if AT&T sells a Time Warner broadcast station.
In the broad market, advancing issues barely edged out decliners by a slim margin on the NYSE while decliners outpaced advancers by nearly 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index gained 10 points to 2,279. Bitcoin plunged $123 to $872.
