Before the bell: PALM, DNA, DELL, CPB ...

Before the bell: Futures decline due to credit concerns, ahead of data

[update: Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) shares are down 2% in premarket trading following a downgrade to Neutral due to valuation from Merrill Lynch.]

Palm Inc's (NASDAQ: PALM) stockholders approved proposals that will end up in a cash distribution of $9 a share to its stockholders. Palm also said it would appoint Jon Rubinstein as executive chairman. Meanwhile, Morgan Keegan upgraded PALM to Outperform from Market Perform.

Genentech (NYSE: DNA) said after the close yesterday that the Food and Drug Administration panel will review in December its bid to have its blockbuster drug Avastin approved as a first-line treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Analysts say FDA approval for the new use would boost Avastin sales, which were $564 million in the second quarter.

Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) said last night it is delaying its fiscal 2008 second-quarter report until it has completed a financial restatement process, which could have an impact on the quarter's financial statements. Dell expects to file the 10-Q for the first and second quarters of fiscal 2008 by the first week of November 2007 or not much after that.

Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) is seeking $1 billion to $1.5 billion for its Godiva Chocolatier division, according to Bloomberg News.

Anglo-Dutch consumer products group Unilever NV/Plc and PepsiCo Inc (NYSE: PEP) are expanding their joint venture that sells bottled Lipton tea drinks.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) said it was restarting units that had been shut earlier this week due to a power disruption at its Fawley refinery in the UK.

The New York Time's David Pogue weighs in on the ringtone market as it came into the limelight following Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) recent offer of customizable ringtone. While Apple's customizable ringtones are indeed the cheapest, prices of ringtones, he says, are "insane," even Apple's. Perhaps, he wonders, music industry execs are behind it.