US stocks little changed after big corporate deals
Specialist John O’hara, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, July 28, 2014. US stocks finished mixed on Monday following prominent corporate deals and a drop in pending home sales as investors looked ahead to fresh earnings and labor market data. AP
NEW YORK–US stocks finished mixed on Monday following prominent corporate deals and a drop in pending home sales as investors looked ahead to fresh earnings and labor market data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 22.02 points (0.13 percent) to 16,982.59.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.57 (0.03 percent) to 1,978.91, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 4.65 (0.10 percent) to 4,444.91
Dollar Tree announced a $9.2 billion deal to acquire fellow discount retailer Family Dollar, while real estate website Zillow announced it was buying rival Trulia in a $3.5 billion stock deal.
US pending home sales slipped 1.1 percent in June to 102.7, according to an index by the National Association of Realtors Monday.
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital, said investors are avoiding big bets ahead of a busy calendar that includes a Federal Reserve policy decision Wednesday, Friday’s July labor market report and earnings from Pfizer, ExxonMobil and other corporate giants.
“It’s just cautiousness ahead of the (Fed) and certainly ahead of the Friday’s employment report,” he said.
Dow member Microsoft fell 1.2 percent as it confirmed it was under investigation by antitrust authorities in China. A source familiar with the matter said that some Microsoft offices in China have been raided as part of the investigation, but did not elaborate.
Smith & Wesson dropped 0.7 percent after the US Securities and Exchange Commission fined the gunmaker $2 million for bribing officials in Indonesia, Pakistan and other countries to gain sales deals.
Tyson Foods jumped 2.6 percent on plans to divest its Mexican and Brazil poultry businesses to Brazil’s giant meatpacker JBS for $575 million. JBS owns Tyson’s US rival Pilgrim’s Pride.
Tyson, meanwhile, announced a 4.4 percent rise in third-quarter earnings to $260 million and projected “at least” 10 percent growth in earnings-per-share in 2015.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.49 percent from 2.47 percent Friday, while the 30-year advanced to 3.26 percent from 3.24 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
