Earnings, M&A News Lift Stock Futures

Shares in the U.S. should open higher. Wrigley is an early winner.
By Sarina Penn ,

Updated from 8:08 a.m. EDT

Stock index futures were indicating a higher start for Wall Street Monday as investors were greeted with merger news and positive earnings reports.

Futures on the

S&P 500

were up 5 points to 1402 and were 3 points over fair value. On the Nasdaq 100, futures rose 6 points at 1927 and were 2 points above fair value.

One of the early drivers was

Wrigley

(WWY)

, which shot up 27% after Mars and

Berkshire Hathaway

(BRK.A) - Get Report

said they would acquire the chewing-gum outfit for roughly $23 billion, or $80 a share. Wrigley closed in the prior session at $62.45.

Ford

(F) - Get Report

was also advancing on word that Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda has collected a 4.7% in the automaker, or about 100 million shares, and plans to offer $8.50 each for an additional 20 million shares. Ford was up 8% to $8.10 in the premarket.

Also, United Airlines parent

UAL Corp.

(UAUA)

said it would abandon talks with

Continental

(CAL) - Get Report

but also indicated that it will explore other merger options. Continental said this weekend it would remain independent.

Elsewhere, Dow component

Verizon

(VZ) - Get Report

posted in-line first-quarter earnings. Separately, health insurer

Humana

(HUM) - Get Report

padded its full-year earnings guidance as first-quarter income jumped 12.5% and topped the average Wall Street consensus.

On the tech side,

Yahoo!

(YHOO)

and

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

were little changed after a weekend deadline for Yahoo! to respond to Microsoft's takeover bid passed without any comment from either company. Shares of Microsoft were up 0.3%, while Yahoo! was down 0.4%.

Last time out, averages ended the day mixed amid spiking oil prices and inconsistent earnings reports, after spending most of the day lower. All told, the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 43 points to 12,893, and the S&P 500 added 9 points to 1399. The

Nasdaq Composite

gave up 6 points to 2423.

As the new day began, traders were dealing with another new high for crude oil, which reached $119.93 a barrel before pulling back to a 42-cent gain at $118.94. Gold was adding $3.70 to $893.40 an ounce.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was slipping 0.5% against the euro at $1.5666 and fell marginally against the yen.

Treasury prices were losing ground. The 10-year note was off 3/32 in price to yield 3.88%, and the 30-year bond fell 16/32 in price, yielding 4.63%.

Markets overseas were rising. The Nikkei 225 in Japan added 0.2% overnight, and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong climbed 0.6%. As for European bourses, London's FTSE 100 tacked on 0.5%, and Germany's Xetra Dax jumped 0.9%. The Paris Cac was up 0.8%.

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