Little change for US stocks

Surging oil prices left stocks little changed today as interest rate worries also diluted Wall Street’s enthusiasm over multibillion-dollar acquisitions in the banking and newspaper sectors.

With no new economic reports from the government, investors turned their focus to the day’s two major deals: Capital One Financial Corp.’s US$14.6bn (€12.21bn) offer for North Fork Bancorp Inc. and McClatchy Co.’s US$4.5bn (€3.76bn) bid for newspaper publisher Knight Ridder Inc.