Wall Street was lower at mid-session on Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.28 percent to 13,539.25.
The Nasdaq Composite had fallen 0.04 percent to 2,643.89, while the S&P 500 was 0.21 percent lower to 1,521.64.
While the Institute for Supply Management showed the service sector expanding in June with in index reading of 60.7 in June, higher than May’s 59.7, investors worried as bond yields were up again as ten-year yields rose back above 5 percent.
Mergers and acquisitions news brought many of the gains for individual companies.
Hilton Hotels (NYSE: HLT) added 26 percent on the news that it had accepted an all-cash offer from Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), while chemicals group Huntsman Corp (NYSE: HUN) gained 12.6 percent to $27.48 on an offer of around $6 billion from private equity.
Not all bids news brought gains, however. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) fell 26 cents to $52.64 after it said it was thinking of offering for Cadbury Schweppes’ (LSE: CBRY; NYSE: SCG) Snapple brand.
General Motors (NYSE: GM) dropped 3.7 percent to $36.57 on a downgrade from Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) after Tuesday’s news that GM’s sales were down 21.3 percent in June from last year at the same time.
Declines on the Nasdaq were limited by gains by Apple (NAS: AAPL; LSE: ACP; FWB: APC), which was 2.9 percent higher to $130.79.