9:00AM U.S. stock futures pointed lower amid steep Shanghai drop.
U.S. stock futures pointed lower on Monday as investors digested another steep decline in Chinese stock prices. Although Shanghai plunged 8%, global markets were not seriously hurt.
In corporate news, a number of merger deals were announced early Monday. Real-estate investment trust Health Care Property Investors (
HCP: chart) agreed Monday to buy Slough Estates USA from the U.K.''s Segro Plc for $2.9 billion, including the assumption of about $1.2 billion in debt.
In another deal, contract electronics manufacturer Flextronics International (
FLEX: chart) said it will buy contract electronics maker Solectron (
SLR: chart) in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $3.6 billion. Solectron will become a subsidiary of Flextronics, with Solectron shareholders holding a stake of between 20% to 26%. Flextronics expects the deal to add at least 15% to its earnings. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year with the approval of shareholders and regulators.
Among other companies in focus, Wal-Mart (
WMT: chart) rose 2% in pre-open trading, following upgrades from J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley. Onyx (
ONXX: chart) climbed 9% amid reports of improved survival from patients taking a liver cancer drug. Dow Jones industrial futures expiring in June fell 36, or 0.26%, to 13,653. Standard & Poor''s 500 index futures fell 5.60, or 0.36%, to 1,534.00. Nasdaq 100 index futures declined 9.00, or 0.47%, to 1,923.25.
8:30AM Asian markets mostly rise Monday with China bucking the uptrend and declining.
Asian markets mostly advanced on Monday. The Shanghai Composite Index plunged for a second session, off 8.3% to 3,670.40. The Chinese government last week lifted a tax on stock trading trying to restrict a market boom that is thought it could create a dangerous price bubble. In Japan, Nikkei 225 index advanced 14.54 points, or 0.08%, to settle at 17,973.42, the highest finish since Feb. 27. Toyota was among the gainers, advancing 1.21%.
Elsewhere around the region, the benchmark in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 0.62% to settle at 20,729.59, while the Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, added 1.2% to 1,737.59, which is a record high. The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange advanced 0.5% to end at 8,294.79 and the Australian benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index finished up 0.9% at 6,392.9, after striking a record intraday high of 6,409.2 in early session.
8:00AM Dominion agreed to sell most of its natural gas and oil exploration and production operations for $6.5 B.
Energy and power producer Dominion (
D: chart) announced Monday an agreement to sell the biggest part of its U.S. onshore natural gas and oil exploration and production operations in two separate transactions for a total of about $6.5 billion.
Dominion''s Permian Basin operations will be bought by Loews Corp. (
LTR: chart) for $4.025 billion, while Dominion''s operations in the Rocky Mountains will be taken over by XTO Energy (
XTO: chart) for $2.5 billion.
The operations include 3.51 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas and oil reserves as of Dec. 31, 2006. XTO said in a statement that it is planning to set up a $500 million limited partnership.
7:30AM NY-6:30PM Mumbai Sensex finishes lower on selling pressure in late trading.
The
Sensex on BSE ended Monday 74.98 points, or 0.51%, lower at 14,495.77.
The market-breadth turned negative in late session. As 1,182 stocks advanced, 1,388 declined and 84 were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 10 advanced, while all the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,745 crore, compared with Rs 4,709 crore on Friday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 8,543 crore, lower than Rs 9,872 crore on Friday.
Economic news
Indian companies reported the best net earnings results in fiscal 2007 in three years on mostly higher sales. Almost 1,700 companies have reported their results so far with an earnings increase of 47% over the same period a year earlier.
