US STOCKS-Wall Street rises on Mexico relief, M&A cheer

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* Trump scraps tariffs as Mexico vows to tighten borders
* U.S. carmakers, Constellation Brands rise
* United Tech, Raytheon merge; Salesforce to buy Tableau
* Indexes up: Dow 0.56%, S&P 0.80%, Nasdaq 1.52%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Aparajita Saxena
June 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were higher on Monday after
the United States dropped plans to impose tariffs on Mexican
goods, with a couple of multi-billion dollar deals adding to the
upbeat mood.
Mexico on Friday agreed to step up efforts to stem the flow
of illegal Central American migrants after Washington threatened
to impose a 5% import tariffs on all Mexican goods starting
Monday. "The reversal on Mexican tariffs removes one potential
source of worry for investors about corporate profits and
economic growth and helps improve sentiment towards stocks,"
said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells
Fargo Investment Institute.
The S&P 500 index .SPX and the Dow Industrials .DJI rose
to a one-month high, following their biggest weekly gains since
the end of November. The benchmark index is now just 2% shy of
its record high hit in early May.
U.S. automakers, which have long built vehicles in Mexico,
traded higher, with General Motors Co GM.N gaining 1.9% and
Ford Motor Co F.N 1.2%. Corona beer maker Constellation Brands
STZ.N , which has significant Mexico exposure, rose 2.2%.
Among major deals, United Technologies Corp UTX.N agreed
to combine its aerospace business with defense contractor
Raytheon Co RTN.N to create a new company worth about $121
billion. Shares of United Technologies, however, dropped 1.7%, after
Trump said he was a "little concerned" about their merger as it
could take away competition in the sector. Raytheon rose 1.6%.
Salesforce.com Inc CRM.N said it would buy big data firm
Tableau Software DATA.N for $15.3 billion. Salesforce.com
shares fell 5%, while those of Tableau surged 35%. "It is not just about the market, it is the underlying
economy which is not likely to weaken if you have these signs of
business optimism," said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist
at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.
Technology stocks .SPLRCT rose 1.44% and provided the
biggest boost among the eight major S&P sectors trading higher.
Large-cap companies, including Apple Inc AAPL.O , Microsoft
Corp MSFT.O , Amazon.com AMZN.O and JPMorgan Chase JPM.N ,
rose between 1.5% and 4%.
At 12:55 p.m. ET the Dow was up 145.03 points, or 0.56%, at
26,128.97, the S&P 500 was up 22.97 points, or 0.80%, at
2,896.31 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 118.02 points,
or 1.52%, at 7,860.12.
Among sectors, only the defensive utilities .SPLRCU ,
consumer staples .SPLRCS and real estate .SPLRCR were
trading lower.
Chemical maker LyondellBasell Industries LYB.N rose 5.8%,
the most among S&P companies, following a 37 million share
buyback program on Monday. Kraft Heinz Co KHC.O gained 4.8% after the packaged food
company said the financial numbers it restated last month were
accurate following completion of an internal investigation.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.95-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and 2.31-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 60 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 93 new highs and 39 new lows.