The markets markets opened lower with the Dow losing 26 points to 10,834 despite merger and acquisition activity as investors remain concerned about the sluggish economy. Nasdaq slipped 6 points to 2375.
On the upside
AirTran Holdings (NYSE: AAI) will be acquired by Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) for approximately $1.04 billion in cash and stock.
Consumer goods company Unilever (NYSE: UL) will pay approximately $3.7 billion in cash to acquire beauty care products company Alberto Culver (NYSE: ACV).
Seattle Genetics (Nasdaq: SGEN) reported positive results from a clinical trial of its Hodgkin's lymphoma treatment SGN-35.
On the downside
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval for Hologic's (Nasdaq: HOLX) 3-D Selenia Digital Breast Tomosynthesis System for breast cancer detection but the stock price fell.
Bernstein Research analyst Pierre Ferragu downgraded Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to an Underperform rating and cut his price target for the mobile device maker to $6.67 citing strong competition from Android amidst a challenging market.
Wunderlich downgraded BPZ Resources (NYSE: BPZ).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 9 to 7 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a point to 669.