Stocks Edge Lower Ahead of Bell
Stocks were flat to lower ahead of the bell Monday as oil held above $64 a barrel and shares of
IBM
(IBM) - Get Report
were downgraded.
Index futures recently showed the
S&P 500
trading about 2 points below fair value, while the Nasdaq 100 was set for a 1-point decline. The 10-year Treasury bond was up 1/32 in price to yield 4.37%, 2 basis points above the two-year yield, while the dollar fell against the yen and rose against the euro.
February crude, which jumped more than 5% last week as hedge funds put fresh money to work in commodity markets, was recently up another penny to $64.22 a barrel. Natural gas fell 4 cents to $9.59 per million British thermal units.
Overseas markets are higher, with London's FTSE 100 recently up 0.3% to 5748 and Germany's Xetra DAX adding 0.1% to 5544. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei was unchanged at 16,428, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.3% overnight to 15,547.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
starts the week at its best point since mid-2001 after 3% gains in
Hewlett-Packard
(HPQ) - Get Report
and IBM paced a 77-point jump on Friday. Monday morning, shares of IBM were downgraded to neutral at J.P. Morgan, which said the stock's 10% run through the back half of 2005 has left it reasonably valued.
Two potential corporate transactions were making news in the health sector Monday. According to the
Wall Street Journal,
,
Tyco
(TYC)
is studying a plan to spin off its healthcare and electronics units in an effort to simplify its sprawling conglomerate structure. The stripped-down surviving company would focus on security and fire-detection equipment, pumps and valves.
Boston Scientific
(BSX) - Get Report
, meanwhile, has added some detail of its $25 billion takeover offer for medical device company
Guidant
(GDT)
. Under a definitive offer outlined last night, Guidant said it has a deal to divest some of Guidant's coronary stent businesses to
Abbot Labs
(ABT) - Get Report
if its $72-a-share cash and stock offer goes through.
Johnson & Johnson
(JNJ) - Get Report
still has a $21.5 billion, or $64-a-share offer for Guidant on the table.
