Stocks Crawl as Market Chews on Data

The Dow and S&P start the session with nominal gains, while the Nasdaq dips slightly as investors digest merger news and positive earnings reports. Wrigley was among the day's winners.
By Sarina Penn ,

Updated from 8:35 a.m. EDT

New York's major averages were little changed at the open Monday amid merger news and positive earnings reports.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

was up 15 points at 12,907, and the

S&P 500

was up a point to 1399. The

Nasdaq Composite

lost about a point to 2422.

Among the day's big winners was

Wrigley

(WWY)

, which shot up 23.8% after Mars and

Berkshire Hathaway

(BRK.A) - Get Report

said they would acquire the chewing-gum outfit for roughly $23 billion, or $80 a share. Wrigley closed in the prior session at $62.45.

Wrigley also beat the average analyst estimate with first-quarter earnings of $168.6 million, or 61 cents a share -- up 18.1% from a year earlier.

Ford

(F) - Get Report

was also advancing on word that Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda has collected a 4.7% in the automaker, or about 100 million shares, and plans to offer $8.50 each for an additional 20 million shares. Ford was up 8.9% to $8.17 in the premarket.

Also, United Airlines parent

UAL Corp.

(UAUA)

said it would abandon talks with

Continental

(CAL) - Get Report

but also indicated that it will explore other merger options. Continental said this weekend it would

remain independent

.

UAL shares were off 5.7%, and Continental lost 3.6%.

Elsewhere, Dow component

Verizon

(VZ) - Get Report

posted

in-line first-quarter earnings

, lifting shares by 3%. Separately, health insurer

Humana

(HUM) - Get Report

padded its full-year earnings guidance as first-quarter income jumped 12.5% and topped the average Wall Street consensus. Shares were up 1.7%.

On the tech side,

Yahoo!

(YHOO)

and

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

were little changed after a weekend deadline for Yahoo! to respond to Microsoft's takeover bid passed without any comment from either company. Shares of Microsoft were up 0.3%, while Yahoo! was down 0.4%.

Last time out, averages ended the day mixed amid spiking oil prices and inconsistent earnings reports, after spending most of the day lower. All told, the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 43 points to 12,893, and the S&P 500 added 9 points to 1399. The

Nasdaq Composite

gave up 6 points to 2423.

As the new day began, traders were dealing with another new high for crude oil, which reached $119.93 a barrel before pulling back by 20 cents at $118.32. Gold was adding $2.20 to $891.90 an ounce.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was slipping 0.1% against the euro at $1.5610 and fell marginally against the yen.

Treasury prices were mixed. The 10-year note was up 2/32 in price to yield 3.86%, and the 30-year bond fell 7/32 in price, yielding 4.61%.

Markets overseas were mostly rising. The Nikkei 225 in Japan added 0.2% overnight, and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong climbed 0.6%. As for European bourses, London's FTSE 100 tacked on 0.2%, and Germany's Xetra Dax advanced 0.7%. The Paris Cac was up 0.9%.

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