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New York - Wall St stocks were mixed in early trade Tuesday after more poor data on the eurozone economy sent European markets tumbling and new US tax rules hit some pharmaceutical stocks.
About 40 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 20.16 points (0.12%) to 17 153.
The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.63 (0.03%) to 1 994, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 5.26 (0.12%) to 4 533.
Equity markets in Britain (-1.3%), France (-1.7%) and Germany (-1.1%) fell sharply after the weak eurozone data and after the Obama administration unveiled new rules meant to stifle tax inversions in cross-border deals.
The rules raised questions about tens of billions of dollars worth of mergers that had excited the markets when first announced.
Shares fell in pharmaceutical companies that have either announced inversions or been discussed as candidates for inversion deals, meant to slash a US company's tax liability by moving its domicile offshore.
These include Dow component Pfizer (-0.8%), Mylan (-1.6%) and AbbVie (-0.9%), as well as European firms like AstraZeneca, which was off 5.1% in London.
Salix Pharmaceuticals shot up 5.9% following a Wall St Journal report that Botox-maker Allergan is near a deal worth more than $10bn to buy the company.
That report though spurred activist investor William Ackman to threaten litigation against Allergan, which he is pursuing together with Valeant Pharmaceuticals in a hostile bid.
Allergan rose 2.6%, while Valeant gained 0.8%.
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals jumped 2.9% after the US Food and Drug Administration permitted expanded use of its TKM treatment to treat the Ebola virus.
Fertilizer manufacturer CF Industries advanced 2.9% after confirming that it is in preliminary talks with Norwegian company Yara International over a potential "merger of equals".
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dipped to 2.55% from 2.57% Monday, while the 30-year fell to 3.27% from 3.29%. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
