Markets Open Mixed Ahead Of Earnings

The markets opened mixed ahead of earnings season with the Dow slipping 5 points to 10,192 while Nasdaq added 3 points to 2200.

On the upside

Aon (NYSE: AON) will pay approximately $4.9 billlion in cash and stock to acquire Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW).

Playboy Enterprises (NYSE: PLA) founder Hugh Hefner offered to take the company private.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apache (NYSE: APA) entered discussions to acquire $10 billion worth of assets from BP (NYSE: BP).

On the downside

UBS downgraded Aetna (NYSE: AET) and cut its price target on the stock to $30 per share from $38.

Falling gold prices weighed down shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX).

Pengrowth (NYSE: PGH) announced plans to acquire Monterey Exploration.

In the broad market, advancing issues were on par with decliners on the NYSE while advancers outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a fraction to 628.