U.S. stock futures were a little higher Monday morning, indicating a flat to somewhat higher on Wall Street. Investors, preparing for a week full of economic reports, will still likely focus today Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and how this story unfolds.On Friday, U.S. stocks rallied after the news of Microsoft's bid for Yahoo surfaced. Investors seemed to ignore a much weaker than expected jobs report. The Dow industrials finished up 92 points, or 0.73%, the S&P 500 added 16 points, or 1.22%, and the Nasdaq Composited ended 23 points higher, or 0.98%.
Today, only one data point is due for release. At 10:00 a.m., EST, the Commerce Department will report on December factory orders, which is expected to rise 2%, versus the 1.5% gain in November.
This week brings a slew of reports, including readings on productivity, retailers, home sales and wholesale inventories.
But, no doubt, investors will focus on the developments in Microsoft - Yahoo! potential deal. Over the weekend, rival Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) posted a statement in its official blog, critical of the deal, saying it's a threat to the openness and innovation of the Internet. Also, according to the Wall Street Journal, Google offered Yahoo a hand in thwarting the Microsoft bid that could come about if Yahoo! outsources advertising to Google. I'd say that a deal like this would then seem like Google is the threat to openness and innovation... In any event, shareholders seem to favor the Microsoft deal for now, but no decision has been made. Yet.
Overseas, Asian stocks, led by China rallied. European stocks were also higher by midday. The AP reports that oil prices steadied Monday below $89 a barrel, "as traders weighed gains in global stock markets against worries of a possible U.S. recession that would stunt oil demand."
Yum Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) is reporting today and is expected to post earnings of 42 cents a share for the fourth quarter.
Late Friday, Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) suffered a setback when the FDA said its anti-smoking drug Chantix appears increasingly likely to be linked to serious psychiatric behavior, including suicide.
Closing Bell: Stocks rally; CEG, MRVL, RIMM, SNDK soar
Collectible Investments: Fancy cancels
Is Yahoo a screaming bargain without Jerry Yang?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-08-2008 @ 9:07PM
Robert Campbell said...
Chantix was very helpful for me in quitting smoking after 40 years and has also helped three other people I know, with no side effects that I have heard of. These people also had been smoking about as long as I.
When I first inquired of my health carrier why it was not a tier one drug, however, they told me that it was a tier two drug, the first one which they would pay for to stop smoking being Wellbutrin. As I did not believe and was not advised that my smoking was related to depression at this stage, I paid for my own prescription for Chantix and did not take any Wellbutrin or any antidepressant as a prelude.
Not being a health care professional at all but a patient, I do not see why an antidepressent such as wellbutrin would be prescribed for smoking, But if someone were taken off the anti-depressant and then put on Chantix who knows what the cause would be? Maybe that should be addressed in more articles on this topic.
As I head into my first year without smoking as a result of Chantix I am very happy that I did not start with any other medication for this purpose than Chantix and am grateful to Pfizer for producing this product.