Consumer spending climbed in September but the markets opened lower with the Dow losing 29 points to 23,405. Nasdaq slipped 8 points to 6,693.
On the upside
CalAtlantic Group (NYSE: CAA) will be acquired by Lennar (NYSE: LEN) for a premium of approximately $9.3 billion.
Novartis (NYSE: NVS) will pay premium of approximately $3.9 billion to acquire Advanced Accelerator Applications (Nasdaq: AAAP).
Rising crude oil prices lifted shares of Whiting Petroleum (NYSE: WLL).
On the downside
Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) withdrew its European application for Keytruda to treat nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer.
Morgan Stanley warned that cryptocurrency mining chips demand will plunge sending shares of Advanced Micros Devices (Nasdaq: AMD) lower.
First Data (NYSE: FDC) reported higher third quarter earnings and revenue but the stock price fell.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 6 to 5 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 lost 4 points to 2,577. Bitcoin slipped $10 to $6,168.
