Xerox share price down 4% after board cans Fujifilm deal

Xerox Corp. shares fell 4% on Monday after the photocopier pioneer said it scrapped a planned $6.1-billion deal to merge with Fujifilm Holdings Corp. The decision hands victory in one of the biggest ongoing US proxy fights to activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, who say they can secure better offers for the company than the deal with Fujifilm.

NEW YORK — Wall Street ended a choppy session slightly higher on Monday as weakness in defensive stocks offset optimism following US President Donald Trump’s conciliatory remarks toward China’s ZTE Corp. that calmed the waters of US-China trade tensions.

The S&P 500 pared its gains after hitting a roughly two-month high earlier in the session, but at closing bell the index held onto its four-day winning streak.

Mr. Trump vowed on Sunday to help China-based communications firm ZTE “get back into business, fast” nearly a month after the Commerce department implemented a ban on US companies selling to the company.

Mr. Trump’s reversal arrived on the cusp of high-level talks between the world’s two largest economies, due to resume this week after backand-forth rhetoric between the countries stoked fears that retaliatory tariffs could be imposed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 68.24 points, or 0.27%, to 24,899.41, the S&P 500 gained 2.41 points, or 0.09%, to 2,730.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 8.43 points, or 0.11%, to 7,411.31.

With 91% of S&P 500 companies having reported first-quarter results, earnings were on pace for a 26.1% increase, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, defensive utilities, telecoms and real estate stocks were the biggest percentage losers.

Health care stocks saw the largest gains after the Trump administration unveiled its drug price proposals.

Meanwhile, energy companies advanced as oil prices rose following an OPEC report that the global oil glut had been all but eliminated.

Smaller- sized US stocks are outperforming the heavyweights; while the Russell 2000 slipped 0.20%, earlier in the session it came within less than two points of its previous record high.

Gaming company stocks jumped as the US Supreme Court paved the way for states to legalize sports betting. Casino and race track operator Penn National posted a record high, last up 4.7%. Caesars Entertainment, and Madison Square Garden gained 5.5% and 2.6%, respectively.

US optical component maker stocks received a boost from the ZTE news, with Acacia Communications up 8.7%. Oclaro, Inc. and Lumentum Holdings, Inc. advanced 2.9% and 2.2%, respectively.

Shares of defense contractors such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. weighed on the markets as investors pointed to easing geopolitical tensions.

Xerox Corp. shares slid 4.3% after abandoning a planned $6.1 billion deal with Fujifilm Holdings Corp.

Shares of Viacom, Inc. dropped 4.9% after CBS Corp. sued to stop controlling shareholder Shari Redstone’s planned merger with Viacom. CBS was up 2%.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.19to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 24 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 114 new highs and 34 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was 5.96 billion shares, compared to the 6.65 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. —