Dow tries to rise

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Dow Jones industrial average inched higher Monday morning, while the broader market struggled as investors welcomed merger and upbeat economic news, but showed caution as oil prices crept closer to $60 a barrel.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 4.64 to 12,648.85, Charts) added a few points more than an hour into the session after hitting an all-time high late last week. The broader S&P 500 (down 1.05 to 1,447.34, Charts) index trended lower after hitting a more than six-year high last week.

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The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (down 1.89 to 2,473.99, Charts) was little changed.

Stocks were mixed Friday at the end of an otherwise upbeat week in which the Dow gained 1.3 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.8 percent and the Nasdaq rose 1.7 percent.

After such a run, investors were a bit wary Monday, particularly amid higher oil prices.

U.S. light crude oil for March delivery rose 64 cents to $59.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Adding some support: the morning release of the January services sector index from the Institute for Supply Management. The index rose to 59.0 from 56.7 in December, topping economists' forecasts.

Investors also took in a number of merger and acquisition reports.

Among the standouts, Triad Hospitals (up $6.60 to $49.87, Charts) agreed to a $4.7 billion private equity buyout offer. Triad shares rose 15 percent and topped the New York Stock Exchange's most-actives list.

State Street (down $3.53 to $68.22, Charts) said it was buying Investors Financial (up $13.95 to $60.90, Charts) for $4.5 billion in stock. State Street shares fell 4.5 percent, while Investors Financial shares gained 30 percent.

America Real Estate Partners, a Carl Icahn affiliate, has made an offer to buy Lear Corp. (up $4.17 to $38.84, Charts) for $36 a share, or about $2.4 billion. Lear is a supplier of automotive interior systems. Lear shares climbed 11.5 percent.

Simon Property (up $0.84 to $115.80, Charts) and Farallon Capital Management made a joint offer to buy Mills Corp. (up $3.25 to $25.40, Charts) for $24 per share in cash. The bid tops an existing agreement Mills has to be bought by Brookfield Asset Management

Among other movers, Dell (up $0.53 to $24.05, Charts) gained after Credit Suisse First Boston upgraded it to "outperform," from "neutral."

In addition, Dow stock Wal-Mart Stores (up $0.57 to $48.65, Charts) rose after saying that January sales at stores open a year or more rose 2.2 percent, topping forecasts.

Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.80 percent from 4.82 percent late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the euro and fell versus the yen.

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