Unconfirmed rumors that ArcelorMittal may be interested in buying US Steel at USD 80 per share inspired an all out options feeding frenzy.

US Steel's shares rallied as much as 6.7% in the first half of the trading session to reach an intraday high of USD 50.50 as of 11:50 AM ET.

But the notion was immediately critiqued by industry watchers as highly improbable, since merging the US market's largest and second largest integrated steelmakers would doubtless draw a jaundiced eye from antitrust regulators.

Ms Michelle Applebaum, who runs Chicago based Michelle Applebaum Research in an email said “The possibility of an acquisition is unlikely. The notion of ArcelorMittal buying US Steel is as ill founded a rumor I have ever heard. There is no way the United Steelworkers union would allow a deal to proceed, because it relies on US Steel’s support for political and trade issues, which global companies with US operations haven’t demonstrated.”

Mr Giles Read, a spokesman for ArcelorMittal in London and Ms Erin DiPietro, a spokeswoman for US Steel in Pittsburgh, declined to comment.

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