Stocks Opened Marginally Lower as Presidential Race Tightened

U.S. stocks opened marginally lower on Wednesday as investors increasingly unsettled by the prospect of a tightening presidential race. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately slid 24.03 points, or 0.13%, to 18,013.07. The S&P 500 shed 2.82 points, or 0.13%, to 2,108.90. The Nasdaq Composite was off 4.66 points, or 0.09%, to 5,148.91.

Employers added 147,000 private sector jobs last month, the slowest pace since May, ADP Inc. reported. The increase in October was below expectations. On Wednesday, ADP sharply revised its estimate for September job growth up to 202,000.

Broadcom Limited (AVGO) said Wednesday that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (BRCD) for $5.9 billion. The price breaks down to $12.75 per share in an all-cash transaction, which is valued at $5.5 billion plus $0.4 billion of debt.

Time Warner Inc., which two weeks ago agreed to sell itself to AT&T Inc., boosted its outlook for the year as improvement in its TV and film businesses pushed quarterly results above expectations. For the September quarter, Time Warner reported a profit of $1.47 billion, or $1.86 a share, up from $1.04 billion, or $1.26, a year earlier. Revenue climbed 9.2% to $7.17 billion.

Crude-oil futures slumped on Wednesday on expectations that U.S. crude inventories moved significantly higher last week. Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December lost 81 cents, or 1.8%, to $45.85 a barrel. January Brent crude fell 71 cents, or 1.5%, to $47.42 a barrel.