US shares turned a tad lower after the opening bell after another record close yesterday and recently floated online retailer Alibaba was capturing all the headlines.
The benchmark Dow Jones was down seven at the time of writing, and the Nasdaq lost six to 4,646, while the S&P500 was flat at 2,038.
The broad based S&P 500 is now trading at around 17 times the projected earnings of its members, which is the highest level since 2009,
Among the biggst gainers was media and film giant Time Warner, which edged 3.55% higher on S&P after a report emerged that it had approached the Australian broadcaster Ten Network Holdings over a US$ 588 million takeover bid.
The Alibaba news concerned China's Singles Day - an anti-Valentines Day extravaganza- held on 11/11 every year.
The company, which recently listed in the US, reported that sales broke through the £5bn mark before the day was out, and sailed past the 50bn yuan (£5.12bn) level with three hours to spare.
The group is hoping to take the tradition global, and some observers are suggesting it could supplant the Black Friday and Cyber Monday spendathons in the US.
Meanwhile, in London, Footsie was down over two points though Vodafone (LON:VOD) was a welcome riser.
Higher full-year earnings forecasts from the mobile network sent its shares to the top of the chart.
Vittorio Colao, chief executive, said it will launch a new TV service in the UK alongside a broadband package while demand it Europe had stabilised.
Telecoms were in vogue across with both Orange (ORA:PA) and Telecom Italia trading higher.
Overnight data from the British Retail Consortium had failed to provide much of a lift for retail stocks– still it wasn’t bad news.
Statistics showed a modest recovery in retail spending in the UK in October, after a drop in September.