U.S. stock futures jumped higher Monday morning as investors gain more confidence in the different government actions taken to stabilize financial markets. Global shares advanced overnight following measures taken worldwide. Indeed, the three-month U.S. dollar LIBOR, a measure of the rate at which banks lend to each other, dropped to 4.06% from 4.42%. Also, investors will be keeping an eye on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testimony before the House Budget Committee on the economic outlook and financial markets at 10:00 am EST, same time as the release of the September leading indicators.
As OPEC prepares for a production cut and oil rose to above $74 per barrel, earnings season on Wall Street continues in full swing this week:
- Ericsson AB (NASDAQ: ERIC) shares are rising over 18% in pre-market trading after it posted a better-than-expected third-quarter profit due to cost cut measures and a sales surge.
- Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) reported third-quarter results this morning. Mattel's income rose, but not enough and it missed expectations.
- Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) reported a 14% drop in third-quarter profit, but it beat expectations.
- Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) swung to a loss in the third quarter, but managed to beat earnings expectations by a penny excluding charges. Revenue in the quarter rose 24%.
- SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK), American Express (NYSE: AXP) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) report third-quarter results after the closing bell.
In deal news,
- Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) made a $6.2 billion all-stock offer to buy NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG), indicating perhaps that falling stock prices in some sectors could encourage deals. The deal would create the biggest U.S. power company.
- General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) attempt to buy and merge with Chrysler may be hitting a roadblock as the automaker finds it difficult to secure the financing necessary for the deal, the Wall Street Journal reported. Dealbook also reports that GM is giving potential buyers financial data on Hummer.
- SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) said it's reached a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Toshiba to sell 30% of its manufacturing capacity in flash memory joint ventures.
In other news:
Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), which recently denied rumors of job cuts, may disclose major cost cuts when it reports quarterly earnings Tuesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. The cuts will involve layoffs of probably over 1,000 jobs.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) moved from a tech indicator to an overall economic one as many look to its quarterly results to be reported Tuesday for new clues about the health of consumer spending. Has demand for the iPod, iPhone and Mac held up as other businesses are hit? And as consumer condifdence continues to deteriorate, when will it affect Apple?
Oppenheimer raised many oil stocks this morning including Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), BP (NYSE: BP), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) from Perform to Outperform.
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