Investing.com – U.S. stocks were down after the open on Monday, as ongoing fears over the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis weighed on market sentiment, but losses were limited amid increased merger and acquisition activity.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.18%; the S&P 500 index shed 0.31%, while the Nasdaq Composite index was down 0.18%.
Shares in the financial sector were broadly lower ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels later in the day. The ministers faced pressure to increase the size of a EUR 750 billion safety net for indebted euro members, in order to arrest sovereign debt contagion in the single currency bloc.
U.S. listed shares in Spain’s largest lender Banco Santander tumbled 2.94% while U.S. listed shares in Deutsche Bank plunged 2.80%.
Elsewhere within the sector, shares in Bank of America dropped 0.67%, while rivals Morgan Stanley saw shares fall 0.58% after Japan’s largest investment banking firm Nomura Holdings said the lenders are at risk of being downgraded by credit-ratings companies in early 2011.
Meanwhile, in corporate news, shares in U.S. book retailer Borders Group soared 13.59% after it said it was planning a takeover bid worth approximately USD 900 million for its biggest rival Barnes & Noble. Shares in Barnes & Noble jumped 15.42% following the news.
Shares in research and development firm 3M gained 0.16% after it agreed to acquire Swiss precision grinding technology supplier Winterthur Technologies for approximately USD 448 million.
Elsewhere, shares in pharmaceutical giant Pfizer added 1.32% after it announced the unexpected retirement of CEO Jeffrey Kindler, who will be succeeded by the head of the company’s biopharmaceuticals arm, Ian Read.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed. The EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.34%, France’s CAC 40 eased up 0.03%, Germany's DAX gained 0.12%, while Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 0.47%.
On Sunday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes", that purchases of Treasuries beyond the USD600 billion announced last month were “certainly possible.”
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.18%; the S&P 500 index shed 0.31%, while the Nasdaq Composite index was down 0.18%.
Shares in the financial sector were broadly lower ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels later in the day. The ministers faced pressure to increase the size of a EUR 750 billion safety net for indebted euro members, in order to arrest sovereign debt contagion in the single currency bloc.
U.S. listed shares in Spain’s largest lender Banco Santander tumbled 2.94% while U.S. listed shares in Deutsche Bank plunged 2.80%.
Elsewhere within the sector, shares in Bank of America dropped 0.67%, while rivals Morgan Stanley saw shares fall 0.58% after Japan’s largest investment banking firm Nomura Holdings said the lenders are at risk of being downgraded by credit-ratings companies in early 2011.
Meanwhile, in corporate news, shares in U.S. book retailer Borders Group soared 13.59% after it said it was planning a takeover bid worth approximately USD 900 million for its biggest rival Barnes & Noble. Shares in Barnes & Noble jumped 15.42% following the news.
Shares in research and development firm 3M gained 0.16% after it agreed to acquire Swiss precision grinding technology supplier Winterthur Technologies for approximately USD 448 million.
Elsewhere, shares in pharmaceutical giant Pfizer added 1.32% after it announced the unexpected retirement of CEO Jeffrey Kindler, who will be succeeded by the head of the company’s biopharmaceuticals arm, Ian Read.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed. The EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.34%, France’s CAC 40 eased up 0.03%, Germany's DAX gained 0.12%, while Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 0.47%.
On Sunday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes", that purchases of Treasuries beyond the USD600 billion announced last month were “certainly possible.”