The markets opened mixed as investors continued to worry about higher oil prices stifling consumer spending and continued deterioration in the financial services sector. The Dow added 8 points to 11,355 while Nasdaq lost 3 points to 2311.
H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) posted higher revenues and a return to profitability as the nation's largest tax preparer focused on its core business and sold off its Option One mortgage business.
France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) dropped plans for a $42 billion takeover bid for TeliaSonera. The combination would have created Europe's largest telecommunications company.
Late Friday, News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and a private equity firm offered $60 a share in cash to buy out public shareholders of its subsidiary NDS Group PLC (Nasdaq: NNDS), a British company that makes technology for pay TV services.
On the downside
Shares of Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) fell ahead of their June sales reports. Rumors swirled around the possibility of the automakers going bankrupt.Shares of Wachovia (NYSE: WB) fell to a 25-year low as investors worried about the possibility of new capital diluting existing shareholders.
Shareholders approved the issuance of more stock to shore up mortgage insurer MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE: MTG).
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a very narrow margin on the NYSE, but were edged out by margin of 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which
tracks small cap stocks slipped a fraction to 697.
