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Stocks Open Lower; Verizon To Buy Yahoo For $4.8 Billion

NYSE floor

The major indexes are battling to turn in a positive finish for the week. (iStockphoto)

A busy morning of deal flow Monday didn't have much impact on stocks, as indexes opened lower.

The Dow industrials and S&P 500 were off 0.3% and the Nasdaq eased 0.1% shortly after the opening bell.

Last week, the Nasdaq composite capped its fourth straight weekly win, rising 1.4%. Over the past four weeks, it's up 8.3%, about the same as the IBD 50. Over the same time, the S&P 500 is up 6.8%.

Several deals made headlines ahead of the open of the stock market today.

Verizon (VZ) added 0.5% on news it's acquiring Yahoo (YHOO) for $4.8 billion. Shares of Yahoo opened 2% lower.

Redbox and Coinstar parent Outerwall (OUTR) agreed to be bought by Apollo Global Management for $1.6 billion, or $52 a share. Outerwall soared 11% to 52.15 at the open.

In the financial space, ETrade (ETFC) bought Aperture New Holdings, the parent company of OptionsHouse, for $725 million. Shares of ETrade opened with a 2% loss.

Meanwhile, AMC Entertainment (AMC) raised its bid to acquire Carmike Cinemas (CKEC) by 10%. The new offer values Carmike at 33.06 a share, or about $1.2 billion. AMC's prior offer put Carmike at 30 shares. Shares of Carmike rose 0.5% on the news. AMC eased 1%.

Elsewhere, G-III Apparel (GIII) announced plans to acquire the Donna Karan label from luxury good conglomerate LVMH (LVMUY) for $650 million. Shares of G-III opened 4% lower. LVHM climbed 1.5%.

Facebook (FB) added 0.1% ahead of its earnings report, due out Wednesday after the close. Earnings per share are seen rising 62% from the year-earlier quarter to 81 cents a share.


IBD'S TAKE: Facebook is trading near a 121.18 flat-base entry. To learn more about recognizing bullish chart patterns, visit IBD University.


In economic news, another Federal Reserve meeting was due to start Tuesday, and a decision on interest rates is due Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. ET.