Stocks on Wall Street gave up earlier gain as investors continued to fret over an economic slowdown, while euphoria over increased deal activity has waned.The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 39.21 points, or 0.4%, to 10,174.34 after earlier being up a
Stocks on Wall Street gave up earlier gain as investors continued to fret over an economic slowdown, while euphoria over increased deal activity has waned.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 39.21 points, or 0.4%, to 10,174.34 after earlier being up as much as 91 points.
Investors were initially encouraged by a counteroffer from Hewlett-Packard for 3PAR at a 33% premium to an offer Dell made for the data-storage company last week. 3PAR's shares surged 42%, while H-P slipped 1.8% and Dell fell 0.9%.
The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.9% to 2159.63 while the S&P 500 index shed 0.4% to 1067.36.
Trading volume is thin, with less than two billion shares having changed hands in NYSE Composite volume up to early afternoon. The daily average for 2010 is around 5.1 billion.
Other markets: Europe up, Asia down
European stocks rose, boosted by a pickup in mergers activity and strength in the mining sector.
Basic-resource shares were among the best performers, as investors hoped the election stalemate in Australia would kill the introduction of a mining super tax. The Stoxx Europe 600 index for the sector closed up 0.6%.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed up 0.6% at 253.76. The UK's FTSE 100 index and France's CAC-40 index ended up 0.8% higher at 5234.84 and 3553.23, respectively, while Germany's DAX added 0.1% to 6010.91.
Major stock markets in Asia ended lower.
Japanese shares dropped as the yen gained on concern authorities might not step in to prevent the currency's rise as some had expected. The Nikkei Stock Average ended 0.7% lower at 9116.69.
Hong Kong shares declined as energy stocks slipped, reacting to oil prices dropping to a six-week low in New York on Friday. The Hang Seng Index lost 0.4% to 20889.01.
Australia's Foster's Group and South Korea's Ssangyong Motor soared on merger-and-acquisition-related reports.
The S&P/ASX 200 stock index finished little changed at 4429 in Sydney despite political uncertainty after the election, while Korea's Kospi declined 0.4% to 1767.71.
China's Shanghai Composite edged 0.1% lower to 2639.37.
Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude-oil futures fell slightly as concerns about weakening demand and rising inventories kept prices close to recent lows.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery settled 72USc, or 1%, lower at $US73.10 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange was 74USc, or 1%, lower at $US73.52 a barrel.
Gold futures slipped as the US dollar strengthened. The December delivery contract was down $US2.70, or 0.2%, to $US1224.50 an ounce in New York. The August contract settled 30USc down at $US1222.90.
Currencies: Dollar, yen up
The euro fell against the dollar and yen. The yen was also stronger against the dollar.
The euro was at $US1.2660 from $US1.2706 late on Friday. The dollar was at ¥85.29 from ¥85.75. The euro was at ¥107.99 from ¥108.71. The UK pound was at $US1.5511 from $US1.5490.
