Stocks opened mixed as the trade deficit for the month of March widened to $27.6 billion. Meanwhile, oil prices rose above $59 a barrel. The Dow added 7 points to 8426 while Nasdaq lost 8 points to 1723.

On the upside

Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) posted higher 1st quarter revenues and profits that beat expectations.

Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR) offered about $1.4 billion in stock to buy Foundation Coal (NYSE: FCL).

China-based Ctrip.com (Nasdaq: CTRP) which offer travel services online posted higher revenues and profits. Analysts promptly upgraded the stock.

On the downside

Ford (NYSE: F) announced plans to sell 300 million shares in order to raise funds to pay off health care obligations to the auto workers' union. Meanwhile, analysts noted that General Motors (NYSE: GM) is unlikely to avoid filing for bankruptcy.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) raised $7.3 billion by selling part of its stake in China Construction Bank to a group of investors.

Andarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) offered 30 million shares to raise about $1.5 billion.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by 4 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks was unchanged at 501.