MARKET PULSE-Apple, Cancer Genetics, Central Garden & Pet, Idenix

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June 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed at the open on Monday, as a rash of corporate deals barely pushed major indexes up and the S&P 500 and Dow industrials continued to trade near historic highs. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.08 percent at 16,938.4, the S&P 500 was up 0.09 percent at 1,951.2 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.20 points, or 0.03 percent, at 4,322.60

** CENTRAL GARDEN & PET CO, $8.485, +8.23 pct

** HARBINGER GROUP INC (NYSE: HRG - news) , $12.14, +1.68 pct

Harbinger, the owner of Spectrum Brands (NYSE: SPB - news) and an investor in Central Garden, delivered a letter to the board of the supplier of the pet and garden products to consider a potential sale.

** CANCER GENETICS INC (NasdaqCM: CGIX - news) , $12.59, +11.61 pct

The cancer diagnostics company said it entered into an agreement with British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc (NYSE: AZN - news) to perform complex testing for diagnosis and prognosis of cancer patients in Central America and the Caribbean. The partnership is expected to initially focus on lung cancer trials, Cancer Genetics said on Monday.

** ISIS PHARMACEUTICALS INC (Stuttgart: ISI.SG - news) , $31.4395, +3.42 pct

** BIOGEN IDEC (NasdaqGS: BIIB - news) , $320.92, +1.06 pct

The drugmaker said it received $14 million in milestone payments from Biogen for initiating an early-stage testing its drug to treat a rare genetic neuromuscular disease, Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1. Isis and Biogen entered into strategic collaboration in September last year for the treatment of neurological disorders.

** COMMSCOPE HOLDING COMPANY INC, $24.81, -0.32 pct

The telecommunications equipment maker on Monday raised its revenue and earnings forecast for the second quarter, citing strength in its wireless business as telecom companies spend more to improve their network coverage and capacity.

CommScope forecast adjusted earning of 63-66 cents per share on revenue of between $1.03 and $1.05 billion. Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 58 cents on revenue of $1.03 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

** MERCK (Dusseldorf: 6MK.DU - news) & CO INC, $57.77, -0.14 pct

** IDENIX PHARMACEUTICALS INC (NasdaqGS: IDIX - news) , $24.1, +233.33 pct

** ACHILLION PHARMACEUTICALS INC (NasdaqGS: ACHN - news) , $3.87, +34.38 pct

Merck & Co said it would buy Idenix Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at about $3.85 billion to complement its hepatitis C portfolio.

Shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, another maker of hepatitis C drugs, also rose on the news.

** APPLE INC (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) , $92.0748, -0.16 pct

A seven-for-one split of the iPad maker's stock, announced in April, was enforced on Monday. Apple was the fourth S&P company to announce a stock split this year..

** ANALOG DEVICES INC (NasdaqGS: ADI - news) , $55.86, +6.02 pct

** HITTITE MICROWAVE CORP, $77.75, +28.39 pct

Chipmaker Analog Devices said it would buy Hittite Microwave in a deal valued at $2 billion to strengthen its radio frequency (RF) and signal conversion chip offerings.

** MCDONALD'S CORP, $101.29, -0.66 pct

McDonald's reported better-than-expected global sales at established restaurants in May, helped by strong demand in China, but sales in the United States continued to fall..

** NEUSTAR INC, $24.68, -7.46 pct

Neustar could lose a phone contract to rival Ericsson (Xetra: ERCA.DE - news) , media reports said citing an e-mail made public on a government website. The company routes phone calls and manages databases used by North American telecom carriers. (http://link.reuters.com/byz89v)

** FAMILY DOLLAR STORES INC (NYSE: FDO - news) , $69.57, +14.93 pct

** DOLLAR GENERAL CORP, $64.1, +10.54 pct

Family Dollar Stores adopted a one-year poison pill with a trigger of 10 percent, two days after activist investor Carl Icahn reported a stake in the company and said he would consider pushing for a merger with Dollar General (Berlin: 7DG.BE - news) .

** TYSON FOODS INC (NYSE: TSN - news) , $38.38, -4.34 pct

** HILLSHIRE BRANDS CO, $61.87, +5.01 pct

** PILGRIM'S PRIDE CORP, $24.7, -5.98 pct

Tyson Foods said it reached a "unilaterally binding offer" to buy Hillshire Brands (Frankfurt: LEE1.F - news) for $8.55 billion, including debt, beating out Pilgrim's Pride for the maker of Jimmy Dean sausages.

** TIME INC, $22.44, -4.43 pct

** TIME WARNER INC (NYSE: TWX - news) , $68.6, +0.68 pct

The magazine company home to People, Sports Illustrated and Time started trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Time Inc, led by Chief Executive Joe Ripp, spun off from Time Warner to operate as a stand-alone public company no longer buffered by its lucrative cousins, pay-TV channel HBO or movie studio Warner Bros. (Reporting By Shubhankar Chakravorty in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)