YEREVAN, February 15. ARKA/. Thursday's big news Stateside was of course the news that business titan Warren Buffett plans to buy-out food giant Heinz, Hl.co.uk reported.

Overall, stocks ended the day mixed, but little changed, with the Dow Jones lower, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq in positive territory.

In economic news, initial weekly unemployment claims were much better-than-expected.
Heinz deal makes headlines
'It's got to be Heinz' for business titan Warren Buffet, as he and 3G Capital unveiled plans to take the well-known company private as part of a deal worth $28bn.

Heinz shareholders will be paid $72.50 per share - which represents a premium of 20% to the closing price on Wednesday - by Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett's investment company, and 3G.
The deal was unanimously approved by the board of Heinz. The share price rose significantly throughout the day.

In other news, US Airways Group agreed to an $11bn merger with AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, eliciting a negative reaction from the stock market.

Stock of chip-equipment maker Applied Materials made gains during the day after guiding higher for its second-quarter to between $1.81bn and $1.97bn.
Networking gear maker Cisco Systems, on the other hand, was weaker following the release of its own results last night.

PepsiCo released better than expected quarterly results.
Natural-foods store chain Whole Foods Market plummeted after lowering its sales forecast for fiscal 2013.

Constellation Brands was flying higher after InBev offered to cede full control of Corona distribution in the US to Constellation for $2.9bn after US regulators sued to block its purchase of Grupo Modelo.
Better than expected unemployment figures
Initial weekly unemployment claims dropped by 27,000 to the 341,000 mark (Consensus: 360,000). –0--