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New York - The Dow clung to a modest gain, but the Nasdaq fell early on Wednesday as traders weighed big technology deals, mixed earnings and Ferrari's roaring debut on Wall Street.
About 50 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17 225.96, up 8.85 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.11% to 2 028.63, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.22% to 4 870.17.
Global computer disk drive leader Western Digital announced it will pay $19bn for flash memory specialist SanDisk. SanDisk rose 4.3%, while Western Digital jumped 5.0%.
Lam Research announced it was acquiring KLA-Tencor for $10.6bn, marrying two companies in the chip sector. KLA-Tencor surged 23.7%, while Lam Research rose 5.4%.
Italian supercar maker Ferrari opened at $60 per share in its first trade in the New York Stock Exchange, 15% above its initial public offering price of $52. Shares later were at $56.74, up 9.1%.
General Motors surged 4.3% after third-quarter net income translated to $1.50 per share, much above the $1.19 forecast by analysts. Results were lifted by a 9.2% rise in US auto sales to 794 000 cars during the quarter.
Yahoo fell 3.9% as the technology company reported net income that translated to 15 cents per share, two cents below analyst expectations. Chief executive Marissa Mayer said the company would narrow its strategic focus to "fewer products with higher quality."
Other companies to report earnings included Chipotle Mexican Grill (-6.3%) and Biogen (+3.0%).
Twitter fell 6.1% following a downgrade by Morgan Stanley, which cited limited user growth and declining engagement.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.05% from 2.07% on Tuesday, while the 30-year declined to 2.89% from 2.92%. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
