While we have a slew of economic data coming this week, today gave us nothing but corporate acquisitions. Some of the major players in the merger and acquisition activity today included Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO) who completed its acquisition of LineSider Technologies Inc., Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) who announced their $960 million dollar acquisition of Compellent Technologies Inc (NYSE: CML), and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (NYSE: LGF) who was facing a hostile takeover by Carl Icahn. Icahn’s tender offer expired today, leaving him without the shares necessary to facilitate his replacement of certain studio board members.
All this talk of mergers and acquisitions seemed to make investors insecure and resulted in mixed markets without aggressive movement either way. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 18.24 points to 11,428.56 while the Nasdaq fell 12.63 points to 2,624.91. The S&P 500 gained .06 points to 1,240.46.
European and Asian markets were up today with China’s Shanghai Composite gaining 2.88 percent.
More mergers and acquisitions news: Dionex Corp (NASDAQ: DNEX), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (NYSE: TMO), Wellstream Holdings PLC (OTC:WSHOY), General Electric Co (NYSE: GE).
