Stocks were mixed. Nasdaq hit an 18-month hit but the Dow slipped a little on a stronger dollar and weaker commodity prices.

Dow Jones dipped 13 at 10,552. Nasdaq added 5 at 2,332, while the broad-based S&P 500 was flat at 1,138. Nasdaq is now at its highest since September 2008.

One of the bright spots was American Insurance Group, which is nearly 4% higher after agreeing to sell its American Life Insurance unit to MetLife for $15.5bn in cash and stock. MetLife shares rose more than 4% on the news of the deal. Today's announcement comes after the group agreed to sell its Asian life insurance business to Prudential for $35.5bn.

Elsewhere, Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People's Bank of China, has hinted that China could abandon the yuan's unofficial peg to the dollar. Speaking during the annual session of the National People's Congress on Saturday, Zhou said the dollar peg, in place since mid-2008, is a "temporary" response to the global financial crisis.

Meanwhile, the head of the International Monetary Fund said that Greece's financial woes are unlikely to spread to other eurozone countries with high debt levels. Dominic Strauss-Kahn said "there's no reason" to expect that Spain and Portugal would need external support.

Positive sales figures helped McDonalds and mobile communications firm Sprint-Nextel. The latter news also pushed Verizon Communications higher. Broker BMO raised BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion to outperform.

Steel firms were mixed after a note from Goldman Sachs. It upgraded US Steel to buy but cut its recommendation for AK Steel to neutral making it the worst performer on the S&P.

Health insurers, including United Health, have been falling after negative comments by President Obama.

Shares in Kraft Foods fell after it announced the cancellation of Cadbury's listing.

S&P 500 - Risers
MetLife Inc. (MET) $40.90 +5.09%
Office Depot Inc. (ODP) $7.71 +4.05%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $26.17 +3.81%
Sprint Nxtel Corp. (S) $3.40 +3.66%

S&P 500 - Fallers
A K Steel Holdings Corp. (AKS) $24.13 -3.01%
Reynolds American (RAI) $53.12 -2.96%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $25.59 -2.74%
Davita Inc. (DVA) $62.56 -2.48%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $26.17 +3.81%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $65.12 +2.28%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $29.63 +1.37%
AT&T Inc. (T) $25.28 +1.16%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
3M Co. (MMM) $81.31 -1.37%
American Express Inc. (AXP) $39.71 -1.22%
Boeing Co. (BA) $67.24 -1.02%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $63.19 -0.79%

Related share prices