Spain's economy fell into another recession to weigh the markets down to a lower open with the Dow slipping 22 points to 13,206. Nasdaq lost 20 points to 3049.
On the upside
Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) partnered with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) to form the digital reading subsidiary Newco with Microsoft investing $300 million for a 17.6% stake.
Hologic (Nasdaq: HOLX) will pay a premium of approximately $3.75 billion in cash to acquire Gen-Probe (Nasdaq: GPRO).
Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP) will acquire Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) in a deal valued at approximately $5.3 billion.
On the downside
Deutsche Bank downgraded VeriFone (Nasdaq: PAY) to a Sell rating.
Humana (NYSE: HUM) disappointed with lower first quarter earnings that fell short of analyst expectations.
First quarter earnings slipped for LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE: LYB) as revenue fell.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 5 points to 820.
