U.S. stock markets were mixed at the open Monday, with investors remaining wary despite a plethora of positive news including mega-billion dollar deals in the banking and REIT sectors, and bullish comments from Intel's CEO.
After 10 minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average (down 12.42 to 10,403.99, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 0.30 to 1,135.32, Charts) index traded a few points below unchanged, and the Nasdaq composite (up 4.60 to 1,991.33, Charts) hugged breakeven.
In a major deal in the bank sector, Wachovia (WB: unchanged at $47.00, Research, Estimates) said it will buy SouthTrust (SOTR: up $3.97 to $38.77, Research, Estimates) for about $14.3 billion in stock, creating the largest bank in the Southeast. The deal values SouthTrust's stock at about a 20 percent premium from the Friday closing. Shares of SouthTrust gained sharply at the open, while Wachovia edged lower.
In addition, there was a merger in the REITs sector. Simon Property Group (SPG: unchanged at $52.30, Research, Estimates) said it would buy Chelsea Property Group (CPG: unchanged at $58.24, Research, Estimates) for $3.5 billion, in a mix of cash and Simon securities.
Tech stocks got support from comments by Intel (INTC: up $0.32 to $27.96, Research, Estimates)'s CEO to a Spanish newspaper over the weekend. CEO Craig Barrett said that he expects Intel to report record second-quarter profits and that the recession in the semiconductor industry is over. Following the comments, J.P. Morgan boosted its revenue and earnings forecast for the company above the current average of Wall Street analysts.
However, the comments only gave a modest lift to Intel, boosting it 1 percent.
On the downside, shares of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT: unchanged at $55.62, Research, Estimates) fell 1 percent after the company cautioned that June same-sale stores are looking a bit sluggish.
Brent crude oil futures rose 29 cents to $36.50 a barrel in London, gaining despite the resumption of oil exports from an Iraqi pipeline that had been sabotaged last week.
Among other commodities, COMEX gold rose 60 cents to $396.30 an ounce.
Treasury prices were higher, pushing the 10-year note yield down to 4.69 percent from 4.71 percent late Friday. The dollar was mixed versus the euro and yen.
In global trade, Asian markets closed higher Monday, while European markets were mixed at midday there.
After 10 minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average (down 12.42 to 10,403.99, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 0.30 to 1,135.32, Charts) index traded a few points below unchanged, and the Nasdaq composite (up 4.60 to 1,991.33, Charts) hugged breakeven.
In a major deal in the bank sector, Wachovia (WB: unchanged at $47.00, Research, Estimates) said it will buy SouthTrust (SOTR: up $3.97 to $38.77, Research, Estimates) for about $14.3 billion in stock, creating the largest bank in the Southeast. The deal values SouthTrust's stock at about a 20 percent premium from the Friday closing. Shares of SouthTrust gained sharply at the open, while Wachovia edged lower.
In addition, there was a merger in the REITs sector. Simon Property Group (SPG: unchanged at $52.30, Research, Estimates) said it would buy Chelsea Property Group (CPG: unchanged at $58.24, Research, Estimates) for $3.5 billion, in a mix of cash and Simon securities.
Tech stocks got support from comments by Intel (INTC: up $0.32 to $27.96, Research, Estimates)'s CEO to a Spanish newspaper over the weekend. CEO Craig Barrett said that he expects Intel to report record second-quarter profits and that the recession in the semiconductor industry is over. Following the comments, J.P. Morgan boosted its revenue and earnings forecast for the company above the current average of Wall Street analysts.
However, the comments only gave a modest lift to Intel, boosting it 1 percent.
On the downside, shares of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT: unchanged at $55.62, Research, Estimates) fell 1 percent after the company cautioned that June same-sale stores are looking a bit sluggish.
Brent crude oil futures rose 29 cents to $36.50 a barrel in London, gaining despite the resumption of oil exports from an Iraqi pipeline that had been sabotaged last week.
Among other commodities, COMEX gold rose 60 cents to $396.30 an ounce.
Treasury prices were higher, pushing the 10-year note yield down to 4.69 percent from 4.71 percent late Friday. The dollar was mixed versus the euro and yen.
In global trade, Asian markets closed higher Monday, while European markets were mixed at midday there.
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