Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

U.S. stock futures are lower; ad giants Omnicom and Publicis agree to a merger; Perrigo to buy Elan for $8.6 billion; Hertz to report earnings.
By Joseph Woelfel ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Monday, July 29:

1.

-- U.S. stock futures were pointing lower Monday ahead of a two-day meeting this week of the

Federal Reserve

and the U.S. jobs report for July on Friday.

European stocks were trading trading mixed Monday while Asian shares ended the session with losses. Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropped 3.3% to 13,661.13, as the yen rose.

2.

-- The

economic calendar

in the U.S. Monday includes pending home sales for June at 10 a.m. EDT.

3.

--

U.S. stocks

on Friday rose but posted their first weekly decline in July as investors balked at surpassing the 1,700 level on the

S&P 500

, unsure about the strength of the U.S. economic recovery and the

Federal Reserve's

commitment to maintain its stimulus program.

The S&P 500 rose 0.08% on Friday to 1,691.65 but slipped 0.03% for the week. The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

added 0.02% to 15,559.20, and added 0.1% for the week. The

Nasdaq

finished up 0.22% at 3,613.16 and gained 0.22% for the week.

4.

--

Omnicom

(OMC) - Get Report

and France's

Publicis

agreed to a

merger

that would create the world's largest advertising firm.

The deal -- which combines the companies in a "merger of equals" -- is valued at around $35.1 billion.

The combined company will be called Publicis Omnicom Group and be led jointly by Omnicom CEO John Wren and Publicis CEO Maurice Levy as co-chief executives.

The companies said they expect the deal to overcome any regulatory hurdles in the U.S. and Europe. They also would have to overcome any client conflicts since rivals such as

Coca-Cola

and

PepsiCo

, and

Johnson & Johnson

and

Procter & Gamble

, now find themselves under the same umbrella.

5.

-- Michigan-based drugmaker

Perrigo

(PRGO) - Get Report

reached a deal to buy Ireland's

Elan

(ELN)

for $8.6 billion.

Perrigo said it will pay Elan investors $6.25 a share in cash and $10.25 in Perrigo stock. The deal is 11% premium over Elan's closing price Friday.

Perrigo said it will become an Irish-based company and said it could cut its tax liabilities nearly in half, saving more than $150 million a year.

6.

--

JPMorgan Chase

(JPM) - Get Report

said it will explore the sale of its

physical commodities business

.

Other strategic alternatives include a spinoff or a strategic partnership.

JPMorgan said Friday that during the process it will continue to operate the business as a going concern. The bank also said it remains committed to traditional activities in the commodities market, including financial derivatives and the vaulting and trading of precious metals.

7.

--

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

veteran

Bob Mansfield

, senior vice president of technologies, "is no longer going to be on Apple's executive team" but will remain at the iPod and iPhone maker "working on special projects" reporting to Tim Cook, an Apple spokesman told

The Wall Street Journal

.

The newspaper noted that on Sunday Mansfield's biography information had disappeared from the company's Web site. The

Journal

said Apple in the past has removed biographies from its Web site as executive shakeups happen.

8.

--

Hertz

(HTZ) - Get Report

is forecast to post second-quarter earnings on Monday of 45 cents a share on revenue of $2.7 billion.

9.

--

Wynn Resorts

(WYNN) - Get Report

is expected by analysts on Monday to report second-quarter earnings of $1.57 a share on revenue of $1.34 billion.

10.

-- Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the first in three years, are set to begin Monday evening in Washington. Pushing the talks forward was a decision by Israeli leaders on Sunday to release 104 Palestinian prisoners.

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel

>To contact the writer of this article, click here:

Joseph Woelfel

>To submit a news tip, send an email to:

tips@thestreet.com

.

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