Stocks futures are positive in early morning trade indicating to a similar start for stocks.A slew of merger news will undoubtedly be in focus today, helping to drive the markets after a tame CPI report and robust retail-sales last week indicated the economy is probably headed to a soft landing. That is, the economy has slowed down, but growth is still enough to drive corporate earnings.
Today only the current account is due to be released at 8:30 a.m.. Tomorrow, housing and inflation data will be reported.
Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) is expected to post higher quarterly profit and sales when it reports later today. Analyst are estimating sales of 22% to $4.15 billion for the quarter and earnings per share excluding one-time items are estimated at 22 cents.
A few other companies are also reporting financial results this week:
Tuesday: Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Palm Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) and Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE:CC). On Wednesday: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY), FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX), and Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE), Thursday: General Mills Inc. (NYSE:GIS), Red Hat Inc. (NASDAQ:RHAT) and Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:RIMM). Friday: Walgreen Co. (NYSE:WAG).
Verizon Business (NYSE:VZ) signed a $500 million deal with a consortium that includes China Telecom and China Netcom to build an undersea optical cable system directly linking the U.S. mainland and China.
Merger news:
Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ:ESRX) to launch a $26 billion takeover bid for rival Caremark Rx Inc. (NYSE:CMX), potentially derailing CVS (NYSE:CVS) bid.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group have offered at least $90 a share, or $16.7 billion for Harrah's Entertainment (NYSE:HET). Announcement could come as early as Monday.
"Private-equity firms have in recent days been moving into prime position to buy orthopoedics maker Biomet Inc. (NASDAQ:BMET)," the Wall Street Journal reported, specifically British orthopoedics maker Smith & Nephew PLC (NYSE:SNN).
A Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) led consortium won approval to buy a Chinese regional bank in a $3.1 billion deal.
Delta Air Lines Inc. still trying to derail the $8.4 billion merger bid from US Airways Group Inc. (NYSE:LCC), this time by filing for a sweeping bankruptcy reorganization plan, the Wall Street Journal said.
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