U.S. stocks traded up early but may be sinking again. Wall Street had hoped news of a few big deals would help to carry the market, but that may not be the case after all as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both have teetered since this morning’s early run up. Restaurant chain Wendy’s/Arby Group (WEN) said it plans to sell controlling stake in Arby’s to private equity firm Roark Capital Group for $130 million. The firm will also take on the nearly $200 million in debt with the deal. Apparel giant VF Corp. (VFC) also said it will buy Timberland (TBL) for $2.2 billion, presenting a 43 percent premium for investors. VF shares are up 11 percent on the news. Shares of Allied World Assurance (AWH) are down over 4 percent after the Switzerland insurer said it would buy Transatlantic Holdings (TRH) for $3.19 billion in stock. Transatlactic Holdings is up over 10 percent on the news. Despite all the M&A action, the major U.S. stock indices are currently trading lower. The dollar also weakened today. Commodities prices are falling as well with oil, gold and silver all declining.
Major U.S. Stock Indices
DJIA: 11,926.18 (-0.22 percent)
S&P 500: 1,266.29 (-0.37 percent)
NASDAQ: 2,631.06 (-0.48 percent)
Russell 2000: 776.33 (-0.41 percent)
In other news:
- Three more hedge fund managers from Galleon Group were found guilty of insider trading. [NY Times]
- One-hit wonders in business. Actually, more like novelty items that caught on with consumers. [WSJ]
- A little bit of a stretch, but…Lebron James may have been a loser last night, but he’s a winner in business. The Dallas Mavericks, on the other hand, are winners in both. [Bloomberg, Forbes]
- Hackers have now infiltrated the IMF, and experts believe that it could be a state-sponsored attack. [Reuters]
- Facebook’s IPO could value the company at over $100 billion. [CNBC]
Read Next
