Monday used to be known as the day for merger announcements, but tech companies have been getting a jump on the weekend lately.
Switchboard and InfoSpace
announced merger plans on Friday, and Yahoo
announced plans to acquire Europe’s Kelkoo for $579 million in cash.
And those announcements came a day after DigitalThink was acquired and LSI Logic
snapped up a pair of companies.
More important is that all four takeovers were all-cash offers, which suggests that companies still see some value out there after the stock market’s year-long run-up.
The broader market finished mixed Friday, as a rally on a better than expected Michigan sentiment reading gave way to late-day profit taking and inflation fears.
The Nasdaq lost 7 to 1960, the S&P 500 slipped 1 to 1108, and the Dow gave back 5 to 10,212. Volume declined to 1.32 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.58 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 17-14 on the NYSE, and by a few issues on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 56% on the NYSE, and 49% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 127-25 on the NYSE, and 89-15 on the Nasdaq.
After the close, Research in Motion announced a legal settlement.
During the day, E*Trade gained 3% on news that the company will be added to the S&P 500.
Cognos gained 6% on better than expected results. The company will also be getting a new CEO.
Gateway lost 3% on a patent dispute with HP
.
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