Merger mania in the data storage sector dominated stock trading on Thursday, while the rest of the market treaded water on mixed economic reports.

NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) rose 3.4% after conceding the takeover battle for Data Domain (NASDAQ: DDUP) to rival EMC (NYSE: EMC), as speculation returned that NetApp itself could become a takeover target.

Emulex (NYSE: ELX) fell 7.8% after rejecting the latest takeover offer from Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM), while Broadcom shares rose 4% after the company said it will abandon its bid to acquire Emulex.

3Com (NASDAQ: COMS) fell 8.5% on a weaker than expected outlook.

The rest of the market was mixed, as traders digested better than expected results from Alcoa (NYSE: AA), a big drop in weekly jobless claims and weak retail sales.

Next week, attention will turn to second-quarter earnings reports, with Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) set to report their results.

The Nasdaq added 5 to 1752, the S&P 500 rose 3 to 882, and the Dow was up 4 to 8183. Volume fell to 4.35 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.91 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 23-13 margin on the NYSE, and by a few shares on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 68% on the NYSE, and 70% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 11-46 on the NYSE, and 14-35 on the Nasdaq.

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