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U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range today as corporate deal activity was offset by concern a fixed-income selloff may resume and investors considered a downbeat retail sales report.
By the close the Dow Jones had eased seven points to 18060. The S&P 500 was little changed at 2098 while the NASDAQ ticked up 0.1% to 4982.
U.S. economic data
In U.S. economic news the Commerce Department said Wednesday U.S. retail sales were flat in April at $436.8 billion.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 0.2 percent increase in April. Retail sales in March were revised to 1.1 percent growth from 0.9 percent previously.
Wall Street round-up
American Express (NYSE:AXP) rose 1.1 percent to $79.91 as the biggest U.S. credit-card issuer by customer purchases announced a 12 percent dividend increase and a new share-buyback program.
Macy's (NYSE:M) slid 2.4 percent to $63.76 after the U.S. department-store chain reported weaker-than-expected sales and profit in the first quarter.
McKesson (NYSE:MCK) rose 1.3 percent to $232.47 as the drug distributor earned an adjusted $2.94 per share for its latest quarter beating estimates of $0.20.
Danaher (NYSE:DHR) climbed 1.3 percent to $87.11 and Pall (NYSE:PLL) added 4.5 percent to $123.95 after Danaher agreed to buy the water-systems maker for $13.8 billion. Danaher will also split itself into two independent companies.
Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL) rose 1.2 percent to $46.66 after announcing a $5 billion buyback program and raised its quarterly dividend to 13.5 cents per share from $0.09.
In financials Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) fell 1.9 percent to $96.08 even as the real estate website operator reported profit of $0.05 per share better than the consensus analyst forecast of an 0.11 per share loss. Revenue was also better than expected on improved ad sales.
HortonWorks (NASDAQ:HDP) added 0.8 percent to $21.97 after the data-software company’s second-quarter revenue forecast beat analysts’ estimates while reporting a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss.
Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ:ZBRA) jumped 12.5 percent to $105.38 after the Lincolnshire Illinois-based company said its first-quarter sales soared helped by a recent acquisition and saw growth in its legacy business.
GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) fluctuated and was last flat at $26.75. The web-hosting company which manages nearly a fifth of the world’s internet domains reported a higher-than-expected 18 percent increase in first-quarter revenue aided by customer addition.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) surged 1.7 percent to $126.01 after a panel of external advisers said its experimental cystic fibrosis combination should be approved by U.S. regulators.
Orexigen Therapeutics (NASDAQ:OREX) plunged 14 percent to $5.09 as Takeda Pharmaceutical (OTCMKTS:TKPYY) threatened to end its collaboration with the drugmaker after a safety study of its obesity medicine was halted.
In other stocks Williams Partners (NYSE:WPZ) surged 22.4 percent to $58.02 after gas infrastructure company Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) announced an agreement to buy the public equity of Williams Partners in a stock deal valued at $13.8 billion.
Owens-Illinois (NYSE:OI) rose 9.5 percent to $26.04 after the glass container maker said it would buy the food and beverage glass container business of Mexico's Vitro SAB de CV for $2.15 billion.
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