* U.S. indices surge after Buffett's $37 billion deal
* Weak China data raises hopes for more stimulus
* September Fed rate hike in focus
(Adds detail after close of U.S. stock markets, comment)
By Noel Randewich
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Wall Street surged on
Monday after a $37.2 billion deal by Warren Buffett's Berkshire
Hathaway and weak Chinese data that boosted hopes for fresh
stimulus in the world's No. 2 economy, while oil jumped almost 4
percent.
All three major U.S. stock indices finished more than 1
percent higher after Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) agreed to buy Precision
Castparts, showing investors the M&A boom was alive and well.
Global stock markets also got a lift from hopes that Beijing
might take new measures to stimulate the Chinese economy after a
report that producer prices in July hit their lowest point since
late 2009 and exports tumbled 8.3 percent in the same month.
Expectations of possible restructuring among major shipping
firms and in other key sectors helped boost recently battered
Chinese stock indices by more than 4 percent.
"It's speculative to take anything away from today's rally.
Mostly you see it pronounced in the cyclical sectors ...
anything tied to China and the commodities' complex," said Mark
Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott
in Philadelphia.
RATE RISE TIMING
The outlook in China contrasted with solid U.S. jobs data on
Friday, which bolstered expectations that U.S. interest rates
would rise as early as September.
The dollar .DXY slipped 0.39 percent against a basket of
currencies after hitting a four-month high last week.
On Monday, Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said U.S. price
inflation was only temporarily "very low," while the U.S.
economy has nearly achieved full employment. Separately, Atlanta
Fed President Dennis Lockhart said a decision to raise interest
rates should come soon.
Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields US10YT=RR were five basis
point higher at 2.2251 percent.
"U.S. yields are modestly higher, but dollar/yen needs more
widening of the interest rate spread to take it higher," said
Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at CIBC World Markets.
Crude oil prices rebounded from lows earlier in the session
after a rally in U.S. gasoline and diesel due to a refinery
outage.
Brent crude LCOc1 was up 3.7 percent, its largest gain
since late May. U.S. crude CLc1 climbed 2.5 percent, its most
in two months. Both benchmarks had dropped for six weeks amid a
supply glut.
Wall Street bounced back after losses last week. The Dow
Jones industrial average .DJI jumped 1.39 percent to end at
17,615.17. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.28 percent to 2,104.18,
its biggest one-day rise since early May. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC closed 1.16 percent higher at 5,101.80.
FLURRY OF DEALS
As the Fed has kept interest rates near zero for nearly a
decade, debt has been cheap, leading to a rise in merger and
acquisition activity.
July was the seventh strongest month for global deal
activity since 1980, according to Thomson Reuters data, showing
a hunger for acquisitions as the Fed prepares to hike rates.
Through the end of July, cross-border M&A activity totaled
$913.5 billion, up 23 percent from a year ago.
"The M&A environment is ripe for more deals and at the end
of the year, you will see a lot more deals than what we saw last
year," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich
Securities in New York.
The MSCI All-Country World index .MIWD00000PUS , which
tracks shares in 45 nations, was up 1.1 percent.
Euro zone equities rose after a survey showed investor and
analyst sentiment weakened only slightly in August, suggesting a
relatively robust economic recovery. Major financial shares got
a lift from broker upgrades.
There was also some optimism over Greece, where an official
said banks could get a first capital injection soon after a
bailout deal is agreed, even before the ECB completes a stress
test.