At this time, the DJIA is down more than 40 points. The S&P is also down. All key S&P sectors are lower, led by financials, consumer discretionary stocks and industrials. The major indexes ended the previous week with a rally after the Federal Reserve signaled it was ready to support the recovery with monetary policy. Still, the Dow, and S&P are on track to post a loss in August for the first time since 2005.
The Commerce Department said consumer spending rose 0.4 percent after being flat in June. The results were better than the 0.3 percent rise estimated by analysts polled by Reuters. Personal incomes rose 0.2 percent in July.
In corporate news, Hewlett Packard’s shares are up more than 3 percent as the company’s board announced plans to buy back $3 billion in stock in the fourth quarter.
On the merger front, Genzyme (GENZ) shares rose after the pharmaceutical company’s board unanimously rejected an $18.5 billion offer that translated into $69 per share from Sanofi-Aventis. The U.S. shares of Sanofi were modestly higher. Intel (INTC) shares are lower after news it will buy the wireless unit of German chipmaker Infineon // (IFNNF) for $1.4 billion in cash. The unit will be operated as a standalone business.
Also, 3M // (MMM) // shares were down more than 1 percent after the company said it would buy biometric identification systems company Cogent // (COGT) // in a deal valued at $943 million. COGT is up more than 20%.
