Markets Open Down

Wall Street opened down this morning, as traders digested the June durable-goods report from Commerce and hashed out the big Microsoft-Yahoo deal.

In the first 20 minutes of trading, the Dow was down 32 points, or less than half of 1 percent.

The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were both down about half of 1 percent.

Orders for big-ticket durable goods (aircraft, cars, metals, etc.) plunged by the biggest amount in five months, Commerce said this morning, a number that wasn't so bad if you take out orders for aircraft.

Meanwhile, Yahoo finally managed to get tossed half a lifeline from Microsoft, after famously spurning its $31 per share takeover offer last year. (Yahoo is trading for half that this morning.)

The two companies agreed to a tie-up in search, as The Post's Cecelia Kang reported this morning.

-- Frank Ahrens
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