US Mid-Morning Recap by TradeTheNews Staff Equities opened at their highs as another barrage of take-over announcements fueled early optimism. Utility stocks are advancing after TXU announced a private equity transaction valued at $45B. MIR +2.6% DYN +2% NRG +7% RRI +7% EXC +3.5% AYE +3.5% FE +2.5% Station Casinos agreed to an increased LBO offer at $90/share. HBG is up 15% after receiving bid from Apax Partners and Morgan Stanley. Dow Chemical is adding more than 6.5% after a British paper reported the Co. could receive a private equity bid valued at as much as $54B. Crude futures have spent most of the morning in positive territory helping the OIH add 1.5%. The NASDAQ Composite has been under-performing with telecom equipment and computer related names in negative territory. DELL â1.8% HPQ â0.8% CSCO â1% SMH â0.5% - Treasury markets have moved higher after former Fed Chairman, Greenspan, indicated in a speech at a business conference that a recession was possible in the latter months of 2007. The 30-year is up half a point with the yield slipping back below 4.75%. Copper and Gold futures are adding to last weeks gains. April Gold +0.5% at $690: March Copper up 0.7% at $2.85. The currency markets are fairly quiet with the Yen finding a little bit of traction across the board.