Wall Street Drops Early
Updated from 8:02 a.m. EDT
Stocks in New York were slipping shortly after the open Monday as prospects unraveled for a
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
tie-up with
Yahoo!
(YHOO)
.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was off 63 points at 12,995, and the
S&P 500
gave up 5 points to 1409. The
Nasdaq Composite
was losing 5 points to 2472.
Over the weekend, Microsoft announced it had
on its months-long efforts to take out Yahoo!. The software maker said it was willing to sweeten its offer by some $5 billion, to $33 a share, but claimed Yahoo! wanted at least $5 billion more than that.
As for Microsoft's prior threats that it would go hostile if Yahoo! didn't accept its original bid, the company decided against that path, believing that Yahoo! would in that case try to make itself unattractive as a buyout target. Yahoo! shares were plummeting 22.4% to $28.67. Microsoft added 5.2%.
Countrywide
(CFC)
was an early drag, as well, a trading day after
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
disclosed it might not assume part of Countrywide's debt in its deal to take out the struggling mortgage lender.
Friedman Billings cut Countrywide to underperform, saying that BofA should abandon the merger entirely, or at least sharply lower the buyout price. Countrywide shares were sliding 11.9%, and BofA was down 1.3%.
Last time out, the major averages finished mixed. At the end of the day, the Dow rose 48 points to 13,058, and the S&P 500 added 5 points to 1413. The Nasdaq shed 4 points to 2477 amid miserable first-quarter results from
Sun Microsystems
(JAVA)
.
In the new session's earnings news, gold miner
Goldcorp
(GG)
topped the consensus estimate by 2 cents a share in a quarter that saw gold prices reach record-breaking levels. The company's earnings soared 84% to $229.5 million, or 32 cents a share.
Entertainment company
Marvel Enterprises
(MVL)
jumped 8.8% after sailing past analyst targets and lifting its full-year guidance. Marvel also announced that its
Iron Man
film took the top spot in its opening weekend, raking in $100.75 million in domestic box-office receipts.
On the data side for the new session, the Institute for Supply Management is due to release its April services-sector survey at 10 a.m. EDT.
Among commodities, crude oil was rising 45 cents at $116.77 a barrel, and gold futures were gaining $10.60 to $868.60 an ounce. The U.S. dollar gave back some ground, losing 0.4% to the euro at $1.5472 and slipping 0.1% against the yen to 105.08.
Treasury prices were higher. The 10-year note was adding 7/32 in price to yield 3.83% and 4.57%, and the 30-year bond rose 5/32 in price, yielding 4.57%.
Markets abroad were mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2%. In Europe, Germany's Xetra Dax was off fractionally, and the Paris Cac edged down 0.2%. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and London's FTSE 100 were each closed for a public holiday.