Industrial Shares Little Changed - Industrials Roundup

Shares of manufacturing and transportation companies were flat amid deal intrigue. Shares of Rockwell Collins rallied after the aerospace company was reportedly approached by rival United Technologies about a potential merger. Talks have stalled on the subject of price, reports said, with Rockwell valued at over $19 billion at its current stock price. A merger would come only a few months after Rockwell closed the acquisition of jet outfitter B/E Aerospace. Netflix Inc. has made the first acquisition in its 20-year history, buying comic-book producer Millarworld amid plans to develop original content based on the publisher's characters and titles such as "Kick-Ass," "Old Man Logan" and "Kingsman." Mexican piping and chemicals company Mexichem agreed to buy the majority of Israeli irrigation concern Netafim from leveraged-buyout firm Permira Holdings for $1.5 billion in cash. The slide in the value of the U.S. dollar has resulted in "a big multinationals beat" for the second quarter, said analysts at brokerage Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research, in a note to clients. "55% of companies with top decile foreign exposure have beaten on both EPS and sales versus just 30% of pure domestics," the BofA analysts said. Fluctuations in the value of the dollar remain a critical factor in the outlook for corporate growh, the analysts warned.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 07, 2017 16:26 ET (20:26 GMT)