Wall Street mixed in midday trade

At midday in New York on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was fractionally higher to 13,125.73 after hitting a new high at 13,156.21 earlier in the session. The Nasdaq Composite, however, had dropped 0.2 percent to 2,551.95, while the S&P 500 was even at 1,494.04. Stock exchanges were higher on rumors of new deals in the sector. Meanwhile, sectors as diverse as consumer goods and food and beverages saw gains around quarterly results and some components of the computers sector continued last week’s gains.

Trade was slow in Europe ahead of market closures on Tuesday for the May Day/Labour Day holiday. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.22 percent to 1,571.15, while the Xetra Dax gained 0.42 percent to 7,408.87 in Frankfurt and the Paris CAC-40 was 0.49 percent higher to 5,960.04. In midday trade on the European markets, the telecommunications sector was mixed but mostly higher due to talk of consolidation after a deal by a consortium led by Telefonica (IBEX-35: TEF; Euronext: TEF; NYSE: TEF; LSE: TDE; FWB: TEF; TYO: 9481) to take an 18 percent controlling interest in Telecom Italia (ISE: TIT; NYSE: TI)
There were gains elsewhere in the sector as well.

In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.48 percent to 6,449.2 and the FTSE 250 was 0.22 percent higher to 11,929.4. Broker upgrades resulted in gains in the retail and utilities sectors. The oil sector was also higher. Brewers, miners, and the internet gaming sector saw declines on the session. The London markets will join other European markets in closing on Tuesday.

Asian equities markets were lower on Monday. In India, the Sensex dropped 0.26 percent to 13,872.37. The Straits Times index in Singapore fell 0.39 percent to 3,360.02, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was 1.01 percent to 20,318.98. The Tokyo markets did not trade on Monday at the beginning of the Golden Week holidays, and will be closed on Thursday and Friday as well. Meanwhile in Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.28 percent to 6,158.3.

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