Talk about further consolidation in the brewing industry was helping lift consumer staple stocks on the S&P 500, with the largest gainers Altria , in point terms, and Molson Coors, percentage-wise. Altria rose 2.8 percent to $44.37 as the maker of Marlboro cigarettes has a near 27 percent stake in SABMiller, the world's second-largest brewer, which larger rival Anheuser-Busch InBev would be interested in buying, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday.News that AB InBev was talking to banks about financing for a deal that would be worth over $100 billion followed a confirmation from third-largest brewer Heineken on Sunday of an approach from SAB, which the Dutch brewer rebuffed.As a result, the stock of all three brewers closed at a record in Europe.Molson Coors, a smaller player with a market cap of about $14.2 billion as of Friday's close, jumped 7.2 percent in afternoon trading to $76.94 after also hitting a record high.
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, formerly Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is a brewing company. Shares of BUD traded higher by 2.75% or $3.05/share to $114.00. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $93.72 and as high as $116.65. On average, 992256 shares of BUD exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2419725.
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