The markets traded lower during the midday with the Dow easing a point to 21,358. Nasdaq lost 15 points to 6,150.
Online retailing behemoth Amazon unexpectedly offered to acquire Whole Foods Market for a premium of approximately $13.7 billion in cash. Amazon opened its first Amazon Go brick-and-mortar, cashier-less grocery store in Seattle last December for employees and is testing its AmazonFresh grocery delivery service. Whole Foods has been struggling with declining sales and shrinking market share.
After a 41-year relationship, McDonald's has ended its sponsorship of the International Olympics. McDonald's had signed an extension of its contract through 2020 but falling revenue has prompted the fast food giant to reevaluate its business strategy. McDonald's will maintain its marketing rights and national sponsorship of the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.
As part of its plans to expand its online presence, Walmart will pay approximately $310 million to acquire menswear site Bonobos. Bonobos launched ten years ago by selling better fitting mens pants. The privately held company had been exploring a potential initial public offering but chose instead to join Walmart in order to leverage the world's largest physical retailer's economies of scale.
In the broad market, advancing issues edged out decliners by a slim margin on the NYSE while decliners outpaced advancers by nearly 3 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 lost 3 points to 2,429. Bitcoin soared $57 to $2481.
