Weaker Start to Second Quarter

U.S. stocks opened mildly lower on Monday, the first trading day of the second quarter, with merger and acquisition focus. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 36.78 points to 13,175.26. The S&P 500 fell 1.54 points to 1,406.93. The Nasdaq Composite declined 10.20 points to 3,081.37.

Beauty company Coty Inc said on Monday it offered to buy Avon Products Inc for $10 billion, but the bid was rejected by the cosmetics direct seller, which is grappling with sliding sales in key markets and a bribery probe.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE:GSK) (HAM:DE:GS7) said Monday it’ll buy 10 million shares of Theravance Inc. (NASDAQ:THRX) for $21.29 a share, or about $213 million. The deal will increase Glaxo’s stake in the asthma drug company to 27% from 18%.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) said on Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Wyse Technology, a cloud client computing firm, for undisclosed terms.

Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:FRX) said Monday it’ll pay $357 million in cash to Janssen Pharmaceutica for royalties attached to the high blood pressure drug, Bystolic

Apple Inc’s new iPad topped Consumer Reports’ list of tablets despite the influential watchdog stoking doubts two weeks ago by saying the latest iteration of the best-selling tablet threw off more heat when used heavily.

A private equity arm of Goldman Sachs (NYS:GS – News) is looking to launch a $3 billion property debt fund in a bid to take advantage of a growing shortage of real estate financing across the UK and Europe, British newspaper the Times said on Monday.

A recent data breach may affect less than 1.5 million credit cards in North America, according to the card processor involved. Visa and Mastercard announced Friday that they had notified their card holders of the potential for identity theft and illicit charges because of the breach. The card processor, Global Payments, put a number on those who could be affected late Sunday.

Crude-oil futures moved lower in electronic trading Monday amid lingering speculation about strategic-supply releases. Benchmark U.S. crude oil for May delivery fell 53 cents, or 0.5%, to $102.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, reversing some modest gains during Asian trading hours.