Last Updated: August 31st, 2009: 1:10 PM ET--- The major US equity indices are trading with significant losses Monday, with investors reacting to declines in Asian markets, which offset a notable rise in M&A activity this morning. The Shanghai's Composite index fell 6.7% overnight to 2,668 while the Shenzhen Composite fell 7.1% to 905, with concerns ignited in the region over fresh IPOs and secondary offerings eating excess cash which ended up driving the region's indices lower. On the domestic front, multiple deals were announced including Baker Hughes' (NYSE:BHI) bid for BJ Services (NYSE:BJS), Kinder Morgan's (NYSE:KMP) acquisition of a number of natural-gas plants, Huntsman's (NYSE:HUN) "stalking horse" bid for various Tronox assets and finally Disney's (NYSE:DIS) bid for Marvel Entertainment (NYSE:MVL). While all ten major economic sectors are trading in the red, materials (-2.4%) and energy (-2.2%) are leading the broader market lower. The Dow Jones is trading 0.9% lower to 9,455, the Nasdaq is trading 1.3% lower to 2,002 and the S&P 500 is trading 1.2% lower to 1,017.

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