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Stocks fell for a third day yesterday, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to a five-week low, as concern the economy may return to recession overshadowed speculation that takeovers will accelerate.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.4 percent to 1,067.36 at 4 p.m. in New York after climbing as much as 0.9 percent in early trading. The Dow fell 39.21 points, or 0.4 percent, to 10,174.41. About three stocks declined for each that advanced on U.S. exchanges and a total of 6.3 billion shares changed hands, 29 percent less than the three-month average.

Caterpillar Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. lost at least 2.5 percent to lead the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower. Hewlett- Packard Co. tumbled 2 percent after offering to buy 3Par Inc., sending the data-center software company's shares up 45 percent. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. climbed for a... Business - Equities - Investing - Stocks and Bonds - Dow Jones Industrial Average

U.S. stocks advanced, rebounding from two straight weekly declines, as energy companies and utilities rallied and a pickup in takeover talks overshadowed concern the economic rebound is in jeopardy.

MATT RAINEY/THE STAR-LEDGERVytorin is a cholesterol drug manufactured by Merck, based in Whitehouse Station. Merck is suing to halt a generic form of the medication. Merck sued Impax Laboratories Inc. to prevent U.S. sales of a generic version of the...

Impax, based in Hayward, California, is seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to sell a copy of Vytorin. Merck and its Schering-Plough unit sought to block approval by filing a patent-infringement lawsuit Aug. 19 in federal court in New Jersey, Impax said in a statement Aug. 20.

Microsoft Corp. , the world’s largest software company, is seeking a patent on a system that would allow gestures to be used to input data to a computer.

Pfizer Inc. , the world’s largest drug company, sued Iceland’s Actavis Group hf asking a judge to block sales of a generic version of the cholesterol drug Lipitor until a patent expires in 2017.

Nycomed announced today that Judge Jose L. Linares of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has confirmed the jury verdict in favor of Nycomed and Pfizer Inc. The decision upholds the jury verdict issued on April 23, 2010, confirming that the patent is valid and rejecting allegations by the defendants that the patent was invalid as obvious and invalid for double patenting ...