U.S. markets skid Monday afternoon

NEW YORK, May 5 (UPI) -- U.S. markets skidded in early afternoon trading Monday with shares of Yahoo! falling on news that Microsoft Corp. had pulled out of purchase negotiations.

Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang held out for $37 a share and Microsoft chief Steven Ballmer balked, offering no more than $33 per share, sources said.

Markets rallied briefly on news from the Institute of Supply Management that said service-oriented business activity increased in April.

By early afternoon, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 91.59 points to 12,966.61, off 0.7 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 index fell 7.77 points to 1,406.13, off 0.55 percent. The Nasdaq composite fell 12.03 points to 2,464.03, off 0.52 percent.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note gained 1/32 to yield 3.855 percent.

The euro traded at $1.549 from Friday's $1.5413 and the dollar traded at 105.10 yen from Friday's 105.40 yen.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 57.07 points to 26,183.95, off 0.22 percent. In Japan, the stock market was closed Monday.

In London, the FTSE 100 index gained 128.20 points to 6,215.50, up 2.11 percent.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International