The markets opened lower with the Dow slipping 6 points to 11,562 as investors locked in profits on the final trading day of 2010. Nasdaq fell 10 points to 2652.
On the upside
The Daily Mail reported that Sony may offer $40 per share to acquire IMAX (Nasdaq: IMAX).
CVS (NYSE: CVS) will pay approximately $1.25 billion to purchase the Medicare Part D business of Universal American (NYSE: UAM).
Shares of Andarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) continued climbing on rumors that BHP Billiton will offer more $40 billion to acquire the oil and natural gas exploration company.
On the downside
Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) will delay paying some of its vendors as the bookseller restructures financing agreements.
China Direct Industries (Nasdaq: CDII) will sell more than 2 million common shares at $1.80 per share through a registered direct offering.
Investors locked in profits on Qiao Xing (Nasdaq: XING), whose shares rose after the emerging resources company posted pictures of its newly acquired lead-zinc-copper mine in Inner Mongolia on Wednesday.
In the broad market, advancing issues edged out decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE while decliners outpaced advancers by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped a point to 788.
