Preopen Trading: Optimism Shines Through in Positive Futures
Futures were gearing up to start the week off with some optimism after the grueling drops suffered last week.
The
S&P 500 futures on
Globex
lately were up 1.4 points to 1322, about four points above fair value as calculated by
Prudential Securities
. The thinly traded
Nasdaq 100
futures were 13.5 points higher to 2586, or about 30 points above fair value as calculated by
TheStreet.com
.
Investors were scarce this morning in preopen trading -- sleeping off a weekend hangover, maybe?
Quaker Oats
(OAT)
finally got an acceptable proposal, after
TheStreet Recommends
PepsiCo
(PEP) - Get PepsiCo, Inc. Report
offered a bid of more than $13 billion in stock. Quaker has been the object of several suitors' affection because of its lucrative Gatorade line of sports drinks. Neither party had traded yet this morning on electronic brokerage
Instinet
.
But
Intel
(INTC) - Get Intel Corporation Report
,
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Microsoft Corporation Report
and
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Cisco Systems, Inc. Report
were the blue-light specials this morning. The stocks suffered in last week's selloff and this morning bargain hunters were picking them up. Lately, Intel was up 87 cents from Friday's close to $35, Microsoft was $1.12 higher to $57.75 and Cisco was lifted 66 cents to $49.16.
Europe's major indices were down at midsession, with France's
CAC-40
2% lower, Germany's
Xetra Dax
dropping 1.5% and the U.K.'s
FTSE 100
off 0.8%. Meanwhile, Asian markets bounced on Nasdaq gains made Friday. Japan's
Nikkei 225
edged up 0.8% overnight, while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
also rose 0.8%.
For Friday's postclose trading, see The Night Watch.
