Markets open lower
NEW YORK, April 25 (UPI) -- U.S. stock markets opened lower Monday morning after an extended weekend break and a Census Bureau report that new-home sales rose in March.
Sales rose 11.1 percent in March from February but the figures still define a sluggish market.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 0.33 percent, 41.55, to 12,464.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gave up 0.29 percent, 3.88, to 1,333.50. The Nasdaq composite index lost 0.04 percent, 1.24, to 2,818.86.
The 10-year treasury note rose 3/32 to yield 3.383 percent.
The euro rose to $1.4571 from Thursday's $1.4548. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 81.96 yen from 81.91 yen.
The Nikkei 225 index in Japan was closed for a holiday.
New-home sales rise month-to-month
WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- Sales of new single-family homes rose in March from February, but remain far below sales from 12 months earlier, the U.S. Commerce Department said Monday.
Home sales in March came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 300,000, which is 11.1 percent above February and 21.9 percent below March 2010, when 384,000 new homes were sold.
The Commerce Department said the average sales price for a new home sold in March was $246,800.
At the end of the month, there were 183,00 new homes on the market, a slight decrease from a month earlier. At the current rate of sales, it would take 7.3 months to deplete this inventory, Commerce said.
Barrick Gold to buy Equinox Minerals
TORONTO, April 25 (UPI) -- Canadian company Barrick Gold Corp. said it has reached an agreement to buy copper mining company Equinox Minerals for $7.8 billion in cash.
The deal supplants two other possibilities. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday China's state-owned Minmetals Resources had offered $6.5 billion for the Australian copper mining company. The New York Times reported Equinox Minerals had made an unsolicited bid to buy the Lundin Mining Corp. Equinox has since said it would withdraw that offer, the Times said.
The Barrick Gold offer, agreed to by the two company boards, is a 30 percent increase above Equinox's share price as of Feb. 25, the last day before word got out that Equinox was pursuing Lundin.
Barrick Chief Executive Officer Aaron Regent said in a statement Monday, "The acquisition of Equinox would add a high-quality, long-life asset to our portfolio, and is consistent with our strategy of increasing gold and copper reserves through exploration and acquisitions."
It is still possible, however, that Minmetals could increase its bid for Equinox, but a spokesperson was unavailable for comment, the Times said.
Equinox CEO Craig Williams said the offer from Barrick was "superior to the public proposal made by Minmetals in terms of certainty and value."
Nissan recalls 195,000 vehicles
WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- Nissan North America is recalling 195,991 Infiniti QX4 and Pathfinder vehicles due to corrosion that could interfere with steering, regulators said.
The recall is limited to northern states that use road salt in the winter months.
"In areas of the country in which heavy concentration of road salt are used, a mixture of snow/water and salt may enter an assembly location hole in the upper strut housing," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement. This could, "over time ... result in corrosion of the strut tower housing," the NHTSA said.
Eventually, this could result in "grinding noise, increased steering effort, and possibly [cause] the steering column to break," the regulator said.
The recall involves 1996-2004 Pathfinders and model year 1997-2003 Infiniti QX4 vehicles sold or registered in Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, D.C., West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Nissan said it would inspect and repair the vehicles, as necessary, free of charge.
Consumers can call 800-647-7261 for information.
