Market Wrap: MF KO'd; Yahoo! Does the Acquiring; It's All Greek to 'U.S.'; BofA Does Netflix Tribute

Market wrap-up for November 1st

End of the Day: Dow Jones down 297 to 11,657.96; Nasdaq down 77 to 2,606.96; S&P 500 down 35 to 1,218.28

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• Not since Lehman...: MF Global Holdings (NYSE: MF) admitted to "redistributing" client funds. Regulators aren't sure where the funds, which may top $300 million, went. Additionally, the New York Stock Exchange made the move of delisting MF Global from trading, saying it was no longer suitable to do so given the recent bankruptcy filing.
  
  
• It's all Greek to 'U.S.': Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou didn't want to take a bailout too easily, so he called for a referendum on the recently bailed out measure. Because it's a vote, should more "no" votes come in than "yea" ones, well, hopefully you've hedged well on the recent market run up.
  
  On the news, markets closed in the red, many down 1 percent or more.
  
  
• Yahoo! sends mixed signals: Earlier Tuesday, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) entered a deal to buy Internet marketer interCLICK (Nasdaq: ICLK). At $9 per share, the value is only about $270 million -- not a huge acquisition -- but might send mixed signals to suitors.
  
  Is Yahoo! looking to keep going it alone? interCLICK may give it a stronger foothold in the market for non-guaranteed inventory ads for its own properties as well as third-party websites, according to one Stifel Nicolaus analyst.
  
  It may be positioning itself if an M&A deal doesn't happen. As of right now, Yahoo! hasn't mentioned too much about being acquired, surely to shareholder chagrin.
  
  Or, a long-shot guess, it could be aiming to make itself more appealing for suitors. The addition of a smaller company, which may not have that much overhang in terms of integration, might strengthen Yahoo!'s numbers moving forward, while the Street might still undervalue the company. Last we checked, Yahoo! isn't in a rush to be acquired in the same way Facebook isn't looking to B-line it's way into public trading with an IPO.
  
  
• Taking a page from Netflix's book..: Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is dropping its controversial plan to charge customers $5 per month to use their debit cards, the bank said on Tuesday. BofA said, "We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee...our customers’ voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.
  
  The move mirrors Netflix's (Nasdaq: NFLX) reel from splitting off its DVD business over the summer. In September, Netflix canceled those plans, citing customer complaints.
  
  A special note to corporate Board Members: Step outside your comfort zone for a while and looking at what you're doing from an objective eye. Do you think that customers would really want to shell out an additional $5 per month to use their own money? At least get creative with your fees, and work them into the fine-print somehow. Jeez, didn't your predecessors teach you anything? (We're looking at you, Moynihan.)
  
  
• Open mouth, insert October sales: Without getting to the nitty-gritty, Ford (NYSE: F) reported U.S. sales increased 13 percent in October, from September. Numbers were down 8.1 percent from last year. The move was led by trucks and SUVs, which saw an 8.4 and 23 percent jump in sales, respectively.
  
  For its part, General Motors (NYSE: GM) also had October U.S. sales growth -- about 1.7 percent over the same period last year -- but the WSJ noted analysts were looking for something closer to a 7 percent gain.
  
  Both ended Tuesday notably lower, with GM losing over 8 percent on the session. GM is off over 32 percent from when it IPO'd at last November, highlighting the continued challenges U.S. automakers face.
  
  
• It's November: Notice how it's a little more crisp outside? Catch an untimely snowfall over the weekend? Yep, that layover from summer was called "October." It's winter now, so go invest in Macy's (NYSE: M) the old-fashioned way: buy a coat.
  
  

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