Stocks Mixed Early Monday

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are mixed Monday morning as health care and industrial companies make gains and energy companies slip with oil prices. Bond prices continue to fall and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note is getting close to 3 percent, a milestone it hasn't reached since January 2014. Toymakers Hasbro and Mattel are lagging the rest of the market after Hasbro reported a loss and a big drop in sales as the companies dealt with the demise of Toys R Us.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index picked up 1 point, or 0.1 percent, to 2,671 as of 9:50 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average added 5 points to 24,467. The Nasdaq composite was unchanged at 7,145. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 1 point, or 0.1 percent, to 1,562.

BONDS: Bond yields slipped again. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note continued to trade at four-year highs as it rose to 2.98 percent from 2.96 percent late Friday. Bond yields have climbed this year as investors are starting to see signs that inflation is picking up and the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates. The 10-year yield stood at 2.43 percent at the end of 2017.

MISFIT TOYS: Hasbro said its revenue plunged 16 percent in the first quarter, a far bigger decline than Wall Street expected, as toymakers continue to struggle following the demise of Toys R Us. Hasbro said it took a loss over the last three months, and its stock lost 0.9 percent to $82.14. Mattel fell 0.6 percent to $12.89. Both have been hit hard by Toys R Us' woes, which is taking away prime display space nationwide.

P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

MERGER MONDAY: Utility Vectren gained 5.2 percent to $68.96 after it accepted an offer from rival CenterPoint Energy worth almost $6 billion, or $72 a share. The combined company will have 7 million gas and electricity customers in eight states. Houston-based CenterPoint has natural gas operations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texts. It has delivers electricity in the Houston area. CenterPoint fell 2.2 percent to $26.08.

McDermott International jumped 1 percent to $6.90 after it said it rejected an offer from Subsea 7 SA. Earlier this year it accepted a bid from Chicago Bridge & Iron valued at $6 billion.

Bloomberg reported that Walmart is close to buying a majority stake in Indian e-commerce company FlipKart for $12 billion. Walmart dipped 0.6 percent to $86.44.

SEARS SPLIT? Sears' largest shareholder asked the struggling retailer to sell the Kenmore brand and its home improvement business. ESL Investments, the hedge fund run by Sears CEO Eddie Lampert, said it might buy those assets.

Sears has been closing stores, cutting costs and selling brands as its sales fall. The company acknowledged that it received ESL's request and its stock rose 2.2 percent to $3.07.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude dropped $1.03, or 1.5 percent, to $67.37 per barrel in New York while Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 56 cents to $73.50 per barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 108.24 yen from 107.60 yen. The euro fell to $1.2234 from $1.2283.

OVERSEAS: Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1 percent, as did Germany's DAX was steady. The CAC 40 in France gained 0.2 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 percent and South Korea's Kospi shed 0.1 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.5 percent.

(BE)

P[] D[728x170] M[320x75] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[L2] D[728x90] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R1] D[300x250] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R2] D[300x250] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
DIM[1x3] LBL[article-box] SEL[] IDX[] TMPL[standalone] T[]
P[R3] D[300x250] M[0x0] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]