A drop in Chinese factory activity weighed the markets down to a lower open with the Dow falling 50 points to 15,256. Nasdaq lost 10 points to 3453.
On the upside
Apax Partners will take rue21 (Nasdaq: RUE) private in a cash deal valued at approximately $1.1 billion.
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) reported lower second quarter earnings but the results were better than expected and the company forecast current quarter earnings ahead of estimates.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF) and Thomas H. Lee Partners were close to finalizing a deal to acquire Lender Processing Services (NYSE: LPS).
On the downside
Shares of Nomura Holdings (NYSE: NMR) tumbled after Japanese government bond yields climbed.
National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG) will begin trading without rights to purchase shares from its 9.75 billion euro offering on May 24.
Apricus Biosciences (Nasdaq: APRI) priced its offering of 6 million common shares at the discounted price of $2.85 per share.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index fell 9 points to 1645.
