US stocks mixed on Verizon-MCI deal

Verizon Communications’ $6.7bn bid for MCI met with indifference today on Wall Street, where stocks barely budged in very light trading.

Mergers generally provide the markets with a boost, but with the telecom sector facing stiffer competition, investors saw the Verizon-MCI deal only as a necessary step in dealing with those competitive pressures. Most investors kept to the sidelines while the sector’s consolidation sorts itself out.