LONDON (ShareCast) - All three of the major US equity benchmarks ended the day more or less unchanged as investors awaited the outcome of the meeting of Eurozone Finance ministers, where the Greek crisis was sure to be high on the agenda.

Today is Veterans Day in the US, which will also have had an impact on trading levels.

M&A in focus

Although company results announcements were thin on the ground, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) news provided some trading opportunities.

Paints retailer Sherwin Williams will buy Mexican paints maker Comex for $2.34bn, in a cash deal it will fund through bond issues, while in a deal announced over the week-end, castings maker Precision Castparts is to purchase Titanium Metals, the titanium producer, for $2.9bn.

Elsewhere, Leucadia National, which already holds about 28.6% of New York-based Jefferies, will acquire the rest of the broker for $2.76bn.

Biotechnology outfit Gilead Sciences was boosted by promising results for one of its experimental drugs against Hepatitis C.

Software titan Microsoft was the biggest faller among Dow Jones constituents, even as sales of its "Halo 4" game raked in more than $220m within 24 hours of going on sale. The previous instalment in the first person shooter franchise took $300m in sales in the first week of release and the latest iteration looks set to smash that record, although it faces competition from Activision Blizzard's own first person shooter, "Call of Duty", which goes on sale on Tuesday.

Chip equipment maker KLA Tencor was wanted after analysts at RBS upgraded their view on the company´s shares to "outperform" from "underperform".

JP Morgan on the other hand has cuts its view on shares of heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar to "neutral".

Bond markets closed

Bond markets were closed in observance of Veterans Day in the US, but the futures markets were trading. West Texas sweet light crude for December delivery fell 50 cents to $85.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

S&P 500 - Risers
Titanium Metals Corp. (TIE) $16.50 +42.61%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $73.93 +13.72%
Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW) $149.06 +5.84%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $75.66 +5.82%
Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) $28.29 +5.68%
Precision Castparts Corp. (PCP) $179.69 +4.88%
GameStop Corp. (GME) $23.09 +4.43%
VF Corp. (VFC) $159.68 +4.41%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $15.85 +3.59%
VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) $42.97 +3.59%

S&P 500 - Fallers
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $17.97 -12.94%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $19.40 -5.83%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $36.38 -4.54%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $28.05 -3.49%
PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $16.25 -3.27%
Leucadia National Corp. (LUK) $21.14 -3.03%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $51.92 -2.68%
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. (RRD) $9.17 -2.65%
International Game Technology (IGT) $13.18 -2.37%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $11.91 -2.26%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $76.95 +1.46%
AT&T Inc. (T) $33.87 +0.98%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $47.45 +0.83%
Boeing Co. (BA) $73.69 +0.60%
3M Co. (MMM) $89.18 +0.42%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $61.16 +0.33%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $85.18 +0.27%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $72.48 +0.24%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $16.85 +0.21%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $84.88 +0.17%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $28.22 -2.12%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $13.41 -1.47%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $68.43 -0.80%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $36.08 -0.58%
American Express Co. (AXP) $55.52 -0.56%
General Electric Co. (GE) $20.89 -0.52%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $43.13 -0.48%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $9.39 -0.42%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $69.68 -0.27%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $24.11 -0.25%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $73.93 +13.72%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $75.66 +5.82%
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $24.83 +4.28%
VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) $42.97 +3.59%
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $8.81 +3.16%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $47.60 +2.94%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $19.25 +2.64%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $17.51 +1.45%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $91.98 +1.30%
Priceline.Com Inc. (PCLN) $633.43 +1.21%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $28.05 -3.49%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $109.29 -2.71%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $51.92 -2.68%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $11.91 -2.26%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $44.00 -2.24%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $28.22 -2.12%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $86.14 -2.04%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $77.02 -2.00%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $26.82 -1.92%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $40.47 -1.82%

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