Stock Futures Suggest Slightly Lower Open
Updated from 6:55 a.m. EST
P/>A day before the U.S. elects a new president, premarket futures were suggesting a moderately lower open Monday as traders digested news of several merger setbacks prepared for another week full of quarterly
and turned their eyes toward Tuesday's
.
Futures for the
S&P 500
were down 3.7 points at 963.6 and were 3.8 points short of fair value.
Nasdaq
futures were higher by 12.3 points at 1335 and were 1.9 points below fair value.
Looking through corporate headlines,
The Wall Street Journal
reported that as many as 1,800 public companies could be signing up for investments by the
under the
.
Meanwhile, leveraged-buyout firm
was delaying plans to come public as the credit crisis hurt its capitalization standing. KKR said in a statement it would hold off on buying Amsterdam-listed
KKR Private Equity
until next year.
In other merger news,
The Detroit News
reported that
Cerberus Capital
, which owns
, has ceased discussions with
Nissan-Renault
because Cerberus intends on merging with
General Motors
(GM) - Get Report
.
Agricultural products maker
Monsanto
(MON)
announced its intent to buy Brazilian firm
Aly Participacoes
for $290 million.
Soft-drink maker
PepsiCo
(PEP) - Get Report
announced it would invest $1 billion in China over the next four years in an effort to gain a foothold in emerging markets.
Airplane manufacturer
(BA) - Get Report
announced that a strike by the International Association of Machinists had ended after the company and union signed a four-year contract.
As for earnings, insurer
PMI Group
(PMI)
reported a wider third-quarter loss, and
Goodyear Tire
(GT) - Get Report
announced a decline in quarterly profit.
In terms of economic data, the census bureau is set to release its construction spending figures for September. Also due out is the Institute for Supply Management's October manufacturing index.
The European Commission also reported that Europe is probably in a recession and will continue to struggle through the next year.
Shifting to commodities, crude oil was losing $1.16 to $66.65 a barrel. Gold was climbing $12.30 to $730.50 an ounce.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were mixed. The 10-year was up 11/32, yielding 3.92%. The 30-year was dropping 14/32 to yield 4.36%. The dollar was falling vs. the yen and euro but gaining on the pound.
Credit markets were loosening. Three-month dollar Libor, a measure of the rate banks charge one another for large loans, was down 17 basis points to 2.86%. Overnight Libor slipped 2 basis points to 0.39%.
Abroad, European exchanges, including the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt, were mostly trading higher. In
, Japan's Nikkei was closed for a holiday, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng finished on the upside.
(
)
