the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange-jumped 14 percent after the company confirmed that it is in merger talks with Germany's Deutsche Boerse. The U.S. dollar fell versus the euro and gained versus the yen. Light sweet crude oil for March delivery fell 23 cents to $86.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $1.40 to $1,365.50 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 6.74, or 0.1 percent, to 12,239.89. Shares of Walt Disney Company led the gains, with the company reporting a 5 percent jump following strong fourth-quarter profits. Energy shares were among the Dow's biggest losers with Chevron, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Exxon Mobil reporting drops. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.69, or 0.3 percent, to 1,320.88. Shares of Southwestern Energy Company, Cliffs Natural Resources, and Wells Fargo were among the S&P 500's biggest losers. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 7.98, or 0.3 percent, to 2,789.07.
