Producers of metals and other raw materials ticked up amid deal activity.

U.S. Steel shares rallied after Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel agreed to buy its American counterpart in a $14.1 billion deal. "Yet another example of merger-and-acquisition activity within a beaten-up sector," said J.D. Joyce, president of Houston financial advisory Joyce Wealth Management, comparing the raw-materials deal to similar mergers in the energy patch.

"It will be interesting to see if the deal passes muster with regulators."

Investment firm Opengate Capital sold chemicals company Verdant Specialty Solutions to Verdant's Korean peer -- Samyang Chemical -- after carving out the operation and expanding it through acquisitions to attract suitors.

Freepoint Commodities agreed to pay more than $98 million to settle allegations it conspired to bribe Brazilian officials to secure business from state-owned oil company Petróleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras.


Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-18-23 1813ET