Last Updated: August 31st, 2009: 5:30 PM ET---Following a substantial selloff overseas, the major US equity indices closed August with a session of declines despite heavy M&A activity. 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. 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). Nine of ten major economic sectors closed lower, however, materials (-2.1%) and energy (-1.9%) led the broader market lower. The Dow Jones closed 0.5% lower to 9,496, the Nasdaq closed 1.0% lower to 2,009 and the S&P 500 closed 0.8% lower to 1,021.

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