Consumer spending posted a strong 0.4% increase in July but personal income rose by a less than expected 0.2%. The markets opened lower with the Dow losing 50 points to 10,100 while Nasdaq fell 11 points to 2142.
On the upside
3M (NYSE: MMM) will pay approximately $943 million to acquire automated fingerprint identification systems company Cogent (Nasdaq: COGT).
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) announced a plan to buy back up to $10 billion worth of common shares.
The Justice Department granted antitrust approval to United Airlines parent UAL's (Nasdaq: UAUA) acquisition of Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) after Continental gave 18 of its roundtrip slots at Newark Liberty to Southwest.
On the downside
DG Fast Channel (Nasdaq: DGIT) forecast third quarter as well as full year results below analyst expectations.
A Superior Court denied Skilled Healthcare Group's (NYSE: SKH) motion for a mistrial in a lawsuit that alleged Skilled Healthcare violated safety codes with inadequate staffing.
Jefferies & Co. downgraded Lululemon Athletica (Nasdaq: LULU) to an Underperform rating.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 2 points to 613.
