Stocks are mixed in mid-day trading as deal news tempers worries
about Europe's sovereign debt crisis, in particular, an expected
default by Greece and its future as a member of the eurozone. With
no economic reports due for release, the political wrangling over
the president's jobs bill also provided uncertainty to the
market.
In deal news this morning, Netlogic (
NETL
) surged out of the gate to a new 52-week high on news it is being
bought by chipmaker Broadcom (
BRCM
) for $50 per share, or $3.7 billion, net of cash assumed. The
transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2012.
Broadcom currently expects the acquisition to be accretive to
earnings per share by approximately $0.10 on a non-GAAP basis in
2012.
European banks are suffering along with their U.S. counterparts
amid reports that Moody's Investors Service is preparing to
downgrade France's biggest banks because of their exposure to Greek
sovereign debt. Most of Asian markets were closed Monday but those
that were open, including Japan, Hong Kong and Australia, logged
sharp declines in a catch-up move to Friday's drubbing in western
markets.
Last week's resignation of the European Central Bank's top
economist reignited worries about disagreements over the central
bank's purchases of Spanish and Italian debt. Reports that Germany
was preparing plans to support its banks in the event of a Greek
default added to the losses, MarketWatch and other news outlets
reported.
In company news:
Shares of Tenet Healthcare Corp. (
THC
) are down as the company expects adjusted earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for 2011 to be towards
the low end of its previous target range of $1.175 billion to
$1.275 billion. The company said it was hurt by an unfavorable
shift in the mix of its business, including rising Medicaid volumes
and falling Medicare acuity. Medicaid admissions, which provide
lower reimbursements, have grown by 5.5%.
Shares of Bank of America (
BAC
) are higher after BofA Chief Executive Brian Moynihan tells the
Barclays conference that the bank plans $5 billion in annual
cost-cutting planned as part of the first phase of the "New BAC"
project, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Shares of International Business Machines (
IBM
) are lower despite announcing a deal with health benefits provider
WellPoint (WPT) to create the first commercial applications of the
IBM Watson technology. According to a joint company statement,
"will develop and launch Watson-based solutions to help improve
patient care through the delivery of up-to-date, evidence-based
health care for millions of Americans. IBM will develop the base
Watson health care technology on which WellPoint's solution will
run."
Shares of Wynn Resorts (WYNN) are higher after Wynn Macau, a
unit of Wynn, formally accepted the terms of a land concession
contract for its new billion-dollar Macau casino, Reuters and other
news outlets report.
Shares of ConocoPhillips (COP) are down after The Wall Street
Journal reported the U.S. oil major and China's Cnooc are both
looking at ways to prevent future oil leaks by reducing undersea
oil-reservoir pressure. The report comes as ConocoPhillips just
completed an oil spill cleanup in China.
Commodities are mixed. December gold contracts are down 1.32% to
$1,835 an ounce while October crude oil contacts are up 0.85% to
$88 a barrel.
In energy ETFs, the United States Oil Fund (USO) is up 1.51% to
$34.35 and the United States Natural Gas fund (UNG) is down 0.3%,
to $9.84.
In precious metal ETFs, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is down 1.77%
to $177.35. Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX) is down 2.2% to
$64.35. iShares Silver Trust (SLV) is down 2.52% to $39.52.