U.S. Stocks Dip as Presidential Polls Tighten
Wall Street stocks edged lower Monday as rising uncertainty over the U.S. presidential campaign countered the lift from major acquisitions by General Electric and CenturyLink.
Markets are recalibrating the U.S. presidential contest after the shock FBI announcement that it was reviewing a newly discovered trove of emails linked to Hillary Clinton's controversial private server, which sent shares tumbling Friday.
Clinton has been seen by Wall Street as the safer choice for the White House compared with Donald Trump, who is viewed as unpredictable.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 percent at 18,142.42.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost less than 0.1 percent. The broad-based S&P finished at 2,126.15, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite was at 5,189.13.
Baker Hughes sank 6.3 percent after it agreed to merge with GE's oilfield business, with GE garnering control of the venture in exchange for $7.4 billion in dividend payments to Baker shareholders. GE fell 0.4 percent.
Level 3 Communications jumped 3.9 percent on news it will be bought by CenturyLink for $34 billion. CenturyLink, the third largest US telecommunications carrier, tumbled 12.5 percent.
Most petroleum-linked shares retreated as US oil prices fell nearly four percent. ExxonMobil shed 1.7 percent, Apache 2.0 percent and Transocean 5.9 percent.
Nike experienced the biggest drop in the Dow, falling 3.5 percent following a downgrade by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Team Health Holdings, a physician services organization, surged 16.4 percent after announcing it agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Blackstone for $6.1 billion.
Medical equipment company Zimmer Biomet Holdings slumped 14.0 percent as it lowered its full-year profit forecast.
Source: Agence France Presse
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