Nasdaq, S&P 500 climb; Dow fallsS&P 500 edges closer to its all-time high, Dow struggles despite a spate of big merger news.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks struggled early Monday, as investors react to big deal news from a wide array of industries. The Dow Jones industrial average was weaker in the early going after notching a new all-time high Friday. 
The broader S&P 500 index added 0.1 percent, moving closer to its all-time high from March 2000. The tech-fueled Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 percent. All three major gauges rose Friday, thanks to the latest spate of corporate deals. In corporate news, the buyout unit of Goldman Sachs (Charts, Fortune 500) and private equity firm PG Capital announced early Monday they are buying wireless telecom Alltel (Charts, Fortune 500) for $25 billion, or $71.50 a share, a premium of nearly 10 percent from Friday's close. China's new state investment agency said it is taking a $3 billion stake in private equity firm The Blackstone Group. And General Electric (Charts, Fortune 500) sold its plastics division for $11.6 billion to Saudi-owned Saab. U.S. light crude oil for June delivery fell 8 cents to $64.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. COMEX gold for June delivery rose $2.30 to $659.50 an ounce. Treasury prices edged lower, pushing the yield on the 10-year note to 4.82 percent up slightly from 4.81 percent late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. In currency trading, the dollar gained against the euro and the yen. |
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