The markets opened mixed with the Dow rising 31 points to 14,790 while Nasdaq lost 8 points to 3356 as investors paused to evaluate the impact of tapering stimulus measures.

On the upside

Tsinghua Holdings Co. offered a premium of approximately $1.3 billion in cash to acquire Spreadtrum (Nasdaq: SPRD).

CarMax (NYSE: KMX) reported higher first quarter earnings and revenue that surpassed analyst expectations. 

Bargain hunters lifted shares of Mechel (NYSE: MTL).

On the downside

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) reported higher fourth quarter earnings but revenue fell short of expectations.

The Food and Drug Administration requested additional safety data from Idenix Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IDIX) for its hepatitis C treatment IDX20963.

Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE: AHT) priced its pubic offering of 11 million common shares at the discounted price of $12 per share.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index rose 4 points to 1592.