Stocks Start Week on Muted Note

U.S. Market
Stocks started the week on a muted note after last week’s big gains.

Existing home sales were up 1.2% in February from January levels to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.88 million. Economists had expected sales to be at the 4.94 million in the month. The median sale price was $202,600, up 7.5% year-over-year.

At midday the Dow was up 0.2%, the S&P 500 was 0.1% higher while the Nasdaq was off 0.1%.

Stocks on the Move
Tenet Healthcare (THC) and private-equity owned United Surgical Partners have agreed to a joint venture to combine the firm’s short-stay surgery and imaging assets. Tenet will also buy a U.K. based short-stay surgery center from the same private equity firm for $215 million. All in, Tenet will need to raise around $2.2 billion to finance the transaction and refinance existing debt. Tenet shares rose nearly 6% on the news.

Foreign Markets
European markets were mixed today. The FTSE 100 was up 0.2%, while the Paris CAC and Germany’s DAX were down 0.6% and 1% respectively.

Asian shares moved higher. The Shanghai Composite rose 2%, the Nikkei 225 was up 1% while the Hang Seng was 0.5% higher.