US markets closed narrowly mixed last Friday night, with Amazon.com Inc (up +2.44%) dominating the headlines after announcing it will acquire Whole Foods Market Inc (up +29.10%) for US$13.7B (or US$42/share all cash, an ~27% premium to last Thursday's closing price) - Dow edged +24-points or +0.11% higher to a fresh record closing high despite Wal-Mart's -4.65% decline, while broader S&P500 inched +0.03% higher (with a weak Consumer Staples sector (down -1%) capping gains). NASDAQ slipped -0.22%. Friday's session also marked quarterly "quadruple witching", the simultaneous expiration of stock index futures, stock index options, stock options and stock futures (which can sometimes boost market volatility. Both the Dow (+0.53%) and S&P500 (+0.06%) notched weekly gains, while the Nasdaq fell -0.90%.
