Daily Data Flow: Stocks Steady as Buffet Buys Heinz; Airline Merger Reduces Flight Options; Discouraging Data Pushes Euro Down

U.S. Stocks Steady Due to Heinz Deal (Bloomberg)
Countering investor concern over the shrinking Japanese and European economies, Warren Buffet’s deal for Heinz, as well as a reduction in jobless claims, led to a day of little change in the stock market. “There is global economic weakness and we’re still constrained growth-wise,” Scott Armiger, a money manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Delaware, said. “It’s an environment where it’s easier to buy growth than trying to grow organically.”

Airline Merger Reduces Flight Options (CNBC)
With the merger of U.S. Airways and American Airlines, the four biggest carriers will control 87 percent of the United States’ commercial flights. The CEO of the new American, Doug Parker, said of the combined airline: “We think it’s great for consumers. Between our two airlines there are over 900 routes that we fly. On those, there’s only overlap in 12.”

Euro Falls on Discouraging Data (Reuters)
Hitting a three-week low against the U.S. dollar, as well as declining against the Japanese yen, the euro today fell due to data which provided a discouraging picture of the euro zone’s economy and raised fears that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates. “With the growth outlook trimmed, the ECB must show a willingness to remain flexible with regard to monetary policy to avoid a deeply entrenched recession that could be devastating,” said Sean Cotton, vice president and foreign exchange advisor at Bank of the West in San Ramon, California.