Merger mania includes: Bayer/Monsanto, GE/3-D, VW/Navistar, Enbridge/Spectra, EOG/Yates, Danaher/Cepheid, Navidea/Cardinal, Avolon/CIT, Icahn/Federal-Mogul. MC gets friendly with PayPal. ISM services report stinks. Congress returns to DC. Hanjin Chapter 15. ITT goes belly up. Fox News pays up. Mylan class action. Apple does something tomorrow.   Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 09-06-2016 DOW + 46 = 18,538 SPX + 6 = 2186 NAS + 26 = 5275 10 Y – .05 = 1.54% OIL – .06 = 44.38 GOLD + 22.70 = 1350.40   Stocks posted modest gains but it was good enough for a record high close for the Nasdaq Composite. Also, the Russell 2000 index briefly touched a 52-week high of 1,254, and closed up fractionally just above 1,253.   We have a boatload of M&A activity: Bayer has raised its offer for Monsanto to $127.50 a share, bringing the total value of the potential deal to over $65 billion, which would be the largest all cash takeover on record. It’s the second time Bayer has raised its bid, having started at $122 a share back in May before offering $125 in July. Any merger would still be subject to regulatory approval.  It’s also the latest in a string of deal activity in the chemical sector: ChemChina looks to buy Syngenta for about $43 billion, while Dow Chemical and DuPont are in the process of a $130 billion tie-up.   ChemChina has secured commitments from 17 lenders on a $12.7 billion loan for its purchase of Syngenta. ChemChina agreed to buy Syngenta ...