Stocks mostly higher in tight trading range Berks

Stocks mostly higher in tight trading range
Berkshire Hathaway, 3G Capital to buy Heinz in $28 billion deal

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks finished mostly higher Thursday after another day of tight trading, but blue chips turned in their second day of losses, as investors mulled mixed economic data on a banner day for mergers and acquisitions.

While both the Nasdaq Composite Index and the S&P 500 Index closed up fractionally at multiyear high levels, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI JIA) fell 9.52 points, or less than 0.1%, to close at 13,973.39. It’s the second day of losses for the Dow since it closed up above 14,000 on Tuesday. Shares of Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO) declined 1%, and led 16 out of 30 Dow components lower.
The S&P 500 index (SNC:SPX) rose 1.05 points, or less than 0.1%, to finish at 1,521.38, its highest close since Oct. 31, 2007. Telecom stocks were the biggest decliner and energy led gains among the benchmark’s 10 major industries.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ:COMP) advanced 1.78 points, or less than 0.1%, to close at 3,198.66, its highest close since
On Thursday, the Dow industrials turned in a flat trading day, only varying by 0.5%, following Wednesday’s loss when the high-low varied by only 0.6%. That’s extending the Dow’s flattest streak in 25 years. See: Dow is trading at its flattest since 1986.

For their own part, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq only varied by about 0.6% Thursday.

Declining stocks and advancers were about even on the NYSE, while advancers outpaced decliners by about 13 to 11 on the Nasdaq. Composite volume for NYSE-listed stocks topped 3.7 billion shares, while it surpassed 1.9 billion for Nasdaq-listed shares.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-dr...4-10103627