Stock Markets Soar Into September's End; Duke Disses NextEra Deal, While Alibaba Sees Green in the Cloud

September hasn't been a great month on Wall Street, but market participants weren't willing to give up without a fight. On Wednesday, major market benchmarks moved sharply higher, taking their cue from a stronger report on private-sector employment than most economists had expected. At around 11:15 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) was up 395 points to 27,848. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) gained 39 points to 3,375, and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) climbed 144 points to 11,230.

Investors have gotten excited about companies making deals to merge, but this morning, news that Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) didn't want to do a deal was enough to make the utility stock soar. Meanwhile, Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE: BABA) was higher as its cloud business nears a key milestone.

Shares of Duke Energy climbed 7% in an unusually sharp move for the utility industry. The gains came as investors weighed reports about a possible takeover bid for the North Carolina-based provider of electric and natural gas utility services.

Source Fool.com