(RTTNews) - Stocks saw a choppy trading session on Tuesday, despite some signs of life on the M&A front and positive news on factory orders. The major averages closed on opposite sides of the unchanged mark as some traders preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the release of key economic reports in the second half of the week. The Dow fell by about 17 points, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed modestly higher.

In M&A news, Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa) entered an agreement to acquire the remaining shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) it does not already own for $100 per share. The transaction is valued at approximately $44 billion and is the largest ever made by Warren Buffet's firm.

Further, power tool maker Stanley Works (SWK) and Black & Decker Corp. (BDK) said that they have entered into a merger agreement to create Stanley Black & Decker, an $8.4 billion global industrial leader, in an all-stock transaction valued at about $4.5 billion.

Amid a relatively light day on the economic front, the Commerce Department reported that orders for manufactured goods increased by a little more than expected in the month of September.

Factory orders increased by 0.9 percent in September following an unrevised 0.8 percent decrease in August. The increase in orders came in slightly above economist estimates for an increase of about 0.8 percent.

The major averages continued their sideways movement in late day trading, finishing on a mixed note. While the Dow fell by 17.53 points or 0.2 percent to 9,771.91, the Nasdaq closed up 8.12 points or 0.4 percent at 2,057.32 and the S&P 500 rose by 2.53 points or 0.2 percent to 1,045.41.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region closed lower on Tuesday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.8 percent and India's BSE 30 Index fell by 3.1 percent. The Japanese market was closed for a public holiday.

The major European markets also closed notably lower. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell by 1.3 percent, while the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index dropped by 1.4 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

In the bond markets, treasuries were considerably weaker. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, closed at 3.473 percent, posting a gain of 5.1 basis points on the day.

Railroad stocks saw some of the day's strongest gains following the aforementioned acquisition news, with the Dow Jones Railroads Index surging up by 12 percent on the session. The jump erased nearly all of the losses posted by the index in the second half of October.

Trucking stocks also saw substantial gains on the day, further reflecting the strength in the transportation sector. The Dow Jones Trucking Index rose by 2 percent, bouncing off of the three-month closing low set on Monday.

Gold, biotechnology, electronic storage, healthcare provider, steel and commercial real estate stocks also advanced on the day, while semiconductor stocks turned in some of the day's worst performances. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell by 1.3 percent, setting a two and a half month closing low.

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