Mixed performance for US stocks

Stocks were mixed today with blue chip and tech shares rising only modestly despite lower oil prices and several mergers and acquisitions, including Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.’s 1.5 billion dollar bid for several candy brands from Kraft Foods Inc.

The pullback in energy prices and pick-up in M&A activity were encouraging to analysts, who were not distressed by the day’s lacklustre trading.

After three solid weeks of gains, and without any new economic data, it’s natural for investors to take a step back.

“People are trying to figure out what’s next for the market,” said Dean Junkans, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Client Services. “We’ve had a nice run, post-election ... I think people are looking for that year-end rally, and wondering whether we’ve already gotten a bunch of it or if we’ve got more to run. I think we’ve got more to run.”

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 11.23, or 0.11%, at 10,550.24, after a gain of 1.46% last week.

The broader gauges were narrowly mixed.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down 0.36, or 0.03%, at 1,183.81, following a 1.54% rise. The Nasdaq composite added 8.75, or 0.42%, to 2,094.09, after a weekly gain of 2.28%.

Oil prices dropped, continuing a three-week trend that has taken crude futures down from their record 55 dollars-per-barrel level. Light, sweet crude for December delivery shed 52 cents to 46.87 dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors were also weighing the resignations of four members of President George W. Bush’s cabinet following the election.

Including the latest resignations, six members of the president’s 15-member Cabinet have announced plans to step down for his second term.

The day’s news seemed to have little impact on trading, as institutional investors focused on technical levels after equities jumped 8% over the last three weeks.

Still analysts noted that the market is entering a seasonally strong period, which may help keep stocks aloft through the end of the year.

“We’re due to kind of settle in on a short-term basis,” said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist at Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Conn. “Three weeks ago we were at the lower end of the move over the past year and now we’re at the upper end.

So we’ve completed the lows to the highs in a matter of three weeks. But historically it’s a lot easier to get a market going this time of year.”

General Electric Co. fell 15 cents to 36.10 dollars after announcing plans to buy SPX Corp.’s Edwards Systems Technology fire-and-security unit for nearly 1.4 billion dollars in an all-cash deal, both companies said.

SPX Corp. rose 1.22 dollars, or 2.8%, to 44.21 dollars, on the news.

Wrigley added 72 cents to 68.08 dollars after the candy and gum maker announced an agreement to buy several brands, including Life Savers and Altoids, from Kraft for 1.48 billion dollars. Kraft declined 20 cents to 34.68 dollars.

Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, added 10 cents to 45.10 dollars after announcing plans to buy MarketWatch Inc. for about 519 million dollars in a deal that would end a month-long bidding war for the online financial news and information provider.

MarketWatch, which operates two Web sites, CBS.MarketWatch.com and BigCharts.com, closed up 1.33 dollars, or 7.9%, at 18.12 dollars.

Lowe’s Cos. Inc. was down 1 dollar, or 1.7%, at 59.25 dollars, despite reporting a 15.5% rise in third-quarter earnings, beating Wall Street expectations by 6 cents a share.

The second-largest U.S. home improvement chain also reiterated its forecast, which may have disappointed investors who were expecting a boost.

Microsoft Corp. was up 42 cents at 27.39 dollars as Wall Street adjusted its price to reflect the company’s special 3 dividend, payable December 3.

While the stock has gone up since the dividend was announced in July, the company still faces questions about profit growth and a dearth of large software launches in the coming year.

Declining shares slightly outnumbered advancers on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, was up 1.88, or 0.30%, at 623.86.