In company news, Citigroup shares were among the biggest gainers. Shares in the largest US bank by market value, were up 2.25% to $47.72 after the bank says it expects to report a decline of about 60 per cent in third-quarter net income on losses and write-downs stemming from subprime and leveraged loan woes, fixed-income trading, and weakness in the consumer business. But Citigroup also says the worst is over.
Meanwhile, shares in United Parcel Service were up 1.07% to $75.90 after the company reached a tentative five-year agreement with the Teamsters union that will raise wages and increase company contributions to pensions and benefits.
On the other end of the spectrum, Acxiom shares plummeted 19.71% to $15.89 after Silver Lake and ValueAct Capital broke off their proposed $2.25 billion acquisition of data-management company Acxiom.
And finally, shares in Nokia were up 0.08% to $37.96 after it announced it will offer $8.1 billion for US-based digital map supplier Navteq. Some investors, however, thought the deal was too expensive. The deal will give Nokia a stronghold in the navigation business, one of the fastest growing segments in the technology industry. Nokia is apparently looking for new revenues sources as the mobile phone industry matures.
Turning to the best and worst performers in the Nasdaq Top 100.
First on the list was Lam Research shares were up 5.9% to $56.40. Expedia and Infosys Technology also performed well.
On the other hand, Garmin fell by 10.19% to $107.23. Maxim Integrated and Express Scripts also failed to perform.
