Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Wednesday December 7, 2011

It was a weak day on the M&A chatter front, certainly when compare with yesterday's onslaught of rumors. In fact, there were only two. Southwest Airlines to Buy AMR Corp Rumor: Southwest Airlines LUV to acquire AMR Corp AMR. This one started in a popular trader's chat room. Benzinga placed calls into both AMR and Southwest. An AMR spokesperson would not comment on speculation. A Southwest spokesperson was not aware of the rumor and would not comment on any possible interest in acquiring AMR. Shares of AMR traded in a range of $0.80 to $1.20 on 11 times the average daily volume, 227 million shares. AMR ended the day at $1.14, a gain of 62% for the day. ???? to Buy Alliant Energy Rumor: Un-named buyer to acquire Alliant Energy LNT. A spokesperson for Alliant Energy had no comment on a call from Benzinga. This rumor had no legs. Alliant traded in a range of $42.06 to $43.02 on 2.5 times the average daily volume, and closed at $42.09, a loss of 0.5% for the day.