• Financial Regulation: Legislation fight takes shape
• Tommy Buyout: Hilfiger snapped up by Philips-Van Heusen
• Empire State: Manufacturing index ebbs
• Crude Flattens: Currency drops it below $80 a barrel

The Lowdown

Stocks finished mixed Monday, as a rising dollar bumped commodity prices down and diluted overseas profits for U.S. multinationals.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average caught a late surge and gained 18 points to close at 10642. The S&P 500 ended flat, up 1 at 1151, and the Nasdaq dropped 5 points to 2362.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Empire Manufacturing Survey showed a decrease in its business conditions index to 22.86 this month from 24.91 in February. Economists had expected a reading of 24.0 for March.

Still, the reading "indicates that conditions for New York manufacturers continued to improve at a steady pace in March," according to the report.

The report showed new orders jumped sharply and, in an especially positive sign, the report also showed considerable improvement in labor markets.

Earlier declines in stock futures came as Moody's Investors Service said the risks are growing to the four largest triple-A-rated countries Germany, France, the U.K. and the U.S. In addition, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned of a double-dip recession given financial system risks and continued high unemployment in some countries.

In other markets, the dollar strengthened against both the euro and the yen while Treasurys stayed flat, with the 10-year note up yielding 3.70%. Crude-oil futures dropped $1.31 to $79.93 a barrel, though gold futures rose $4.80t at $1106.50 an ounce.

Corporate News

• Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN) jumped after the Food and Drug Administration said it didn't want more clinical data on a diabetes drug it is developing with Eli Lilly (LLY) and Alkermes (ALKS). Lilly shares were off while Alkermes climbed.
• Boston Scientific (BSX) dropped on a report it's stopped selling a form of defibrillator.
• Retail apparel giant Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) agreed to acquire clothing company Tommy Hilfiger (TOM) for roughly $3 billion, a deal Phillips said would immediately add to earnings.

The Economy

• Still to come is data on the housing market index, due at 1 p.m. EDT
• Data on industrial production and capacity utilization rose 0.1%, the eight consecutive monthly increase. Economists forecast an 0.2% drop for February.