The Dow Jones Industrials finished 40 points lower to 14,047; the S&P500 was steady at 1,547, and the Nasdaq added 6 points to finish at 2,747.
In company news, Deal-making continues on Wall Street despite the credit crunch, with the latest news from the banking sector. Shares in TD Bank Financial Group were down 5.58% to $72.65 after TD said it plans to buy New Jersey based Commerce Bancorp. The friendly $8.5 billion deal will nearly double the scale of the Canadian bank's US business, creating the seventh-biggest bank by branches in North America.
Despite the most recent housing numbers, shares in Luminent Mortgage Capital soared 15.88% to $1.97 on Tuesday. Luminent has announced that it has sold assets, paid down many of its debts and named four new board members as it works to stabilize its business.
Shares in PDL Biopharma were up 8.75% to $23.24 following the company's announcement that it would put itself or its main assets up for sale in response to shareholder demands. The biotechnology company also announced the departure of chief executive.
And finally, shares in Palm fell 3.44% to $15.45 the day after the company warned that current-quarter results would lag Wall Street expectations by about $27 million. Sales of the company's smartphone are down based on increased competition from Apple and Research in Motion.
Turning to the best and worst performers in the Nasdaq Top 100. Topping the list was Akami Technologies shares were up 7.72% to $30.97. Sears Holdings and Marvel Technology.
Garmin came in as the worst performer for the second day in a row, falling by 6.65% to $100.1 after Nokia's deal to buy Navteq. Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Biogen Idec also failed to perform.
