US stocks slip below records

Stocks slipped below record levels on Monday as investors assessed corporate news. Wisconsin Energy and General Electric both fell after the companies announced that they had made acquisitions. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell two points, or 0.1 per cent, to 1,960 as of 3:41 pm Eastern. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 21 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 16,925. The Nasdaq composite index edged down two points to 4,366. Micros Systems rose $2.20, or 3.3 per cent, to $68.42 after Oracle said it was buying the company for about $5.3 billion. Wisconsin Energy fell $1.57, or 3.3 per cent, to $45.32 after the company said that it was buying Integrys Energy for $5.8 billion. Intergrys jumped $8.01, or 13.1 per cent, to $68.91. General Electric fell after agreeing to acquire most of the power generation business of Alstom. GE dropped 29 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $26.68, according to a news agency.