The markets opened mixed with investors elated about mergers and acquisitions, but worried about volatile record high oil prices. The Dow rose 10 points to 11,853 while Nasdaq dropped 4 points to 2401.

On the upside

Agriculture giant Bunge (NYSE: BG) announced a deal to buy Corn Products International (NYSE: CPO) in a stock deal worth about $4.4 billion

Disposal company Republic Services (NYSE: RSG) offered $6.07 billion in stock to buy Allied Waste Industries (NYSE: AW).

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) known as Bell Canada received high court approval to proceed with the largest leveraged buyout in history, a $35 billion purchase by a pension fund.

On the downside

The Associated Press reported that Citigroup (NYSE: C) was about mid-way through cutting 10% of the 65,000 employees in its investment banking unit.

Shares of storage system provider Xyratex (Nasdaq: XRTX) pulled back from recent highs following an analyst downgrade due to valuation.

Shares of Motorola (NYSE: MOT) fell to a new 52-week low after an analyst downgraded the stock due to continued losses in handset market share in North America.

In the broad market, advancing issues barely edged out decliners on the NYSE but were outpaced by a margin of 5 to 4 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added a point to 727.