Rio Tinto Won't be Independent for Long

Felix Salmon at Portfolio.com's Market Movers:

When mergers get mooted, the stock-market reaction is generally predictable: the stock of the target company rises, and the price of the would-be aquirer falls. In the case of the latest proposed mining mega-merger, the stocks followed most of the script: Rio Tinto soared 32% on the news that it was being eyed as a takeover candidate by Australian giant BHP Billiton.

But interestingly, BHP rose 3% itself. The market has spoken: a merger of these two companies is a good idea....MORE