Wall Street was recouping earlier gains as the close approached.
At 3:29 p.m. in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 130 points, or 0.8%, at 16,514, while the broader-based S&P 500 was eleven points firmer at 1,968.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, in contrast, wavered between gains and losses but was last up 6 points at 4,833.
After a strong start, stock prices came off the top at midd-day trading following softer than expected US house sales.
Home sales data for August showed that the prices of existing homes continued to rise, but this may be deterring buyers, as sales of previously owned homes fell for the first time in four months.
Sales fell 4.8% to an annual rate of 5.31mln units from a revised 5.57mln in July. Economists had expected August’s sales to decline to an annual rate of 5.52mln.
Talking of home sales, house builder Lennar (NYSE:LEN) has reported profit of US$223mln for its end-August quarter, equivalent to 96 cents a share. Analysts who follow the company had a consensus earnings forecast of 81 cents. Earnings per share in the same quarter of last year were 78 cents.
Despite the earnings beat, shares were off 0.6% at US$51.43.
GoPro (NASDAQ:GPRO), the “action camera” technology firm, was off 8.2% at US$32.27 after being branded a “one product wonder” by investment publication Barron’s.
Barron’s Alexander Eule reckons the stock could slide all the way to US$25 as competitors muscle in on its market. Eule cites the examples of Blackberry and Palm as once dominant companies that quickly saw their flagship products taken down by a new wave of competing products.
Tribune Publishing (NYSE:TPUB), publisher of the Los Angeles Times, lost around one-fifth of its value as it issued a profit warning.
Atmel (NASDAQ:ATML) was wanted, surging 13% to US$8.19 after agreeing to a US$4.5bn takeover from Anglo-German company Dialog Semiconductor (OTCMKTS:DLGNF, FRA:DLG).
Atmel shareholders will get US$4.65 in cash and 0.112 of a Dialog Semiconductor American depository share for each Atmel common share, equivalent to US$10.42 per Atmel share based on Dialog's closing price as of September 18, U.K.-based Dialog said.
In other takeover news, Starwood Waypoint (NYSE:SWAY), an investment vehicle focused on rental homes, is to acquire rival Colony American Homes (NYSE:CAHS) in an agreed deal that values the latter at about US$1.5bn.
Investors gave the thumbs-up to the deal, with Starwood’s shares climbing 13% to US$25.58.