NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks were slightly higher Monday morning as investors eyed a trio of mergers and geared up for a week heavy with economic news.
The Dow Jones industrial average (down 6.36 to 10,672.20, Charts), the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 0.43 to 1,241.05, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (up 2.16 to 2,177.67, Charts) all stood just above the breakeven point.
Stocks have advanced for the past two weeks, as oil prices retreated from post-Hurricane Katrina highs. After such an advance, investors may have been a little hesitant Monday morning.
In corporate news, Siebel Systems has agreed to a $5.85 billion buyout offer from fellow software maker Oracle. The cash and stock deal marks a 17 percent premium over Siebel's closing price Friday.
Siebel (up $1.16 to $10.29, Research) shares jumped 10 percent on the news, while Oracle (up $0.17 to $13.45, Research) shares added about 1 percent.
eBay (down $0.67 to $37.95, Research) said it was buying Skype Technologies, confirming reports last week that it would do so. The cash and stock deal find the online auctioneer paying at least $2.6 billion for Skype, an Internet telephone company.
In addition, brokerage Wachovia (down $0.14 to $50.24, Research) agreed to buy Westcorp (unchanged at $61.35, Research), a car finance company, for $3.42 billion.
U.S. light crude oil for October delivery fell 45 cents to $63.63 a barrel in electronic trading.
Treasuries slumped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.16 percent from 4.12 percent late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The dollar rose versus the euro and the yen.
In global trade, major Asian markets ended higher, and European shares rose at midday.
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