Before the bell: Futures mixed as oil drops, ahead of earnings season kickoff
Posted by: in Latest NewsFiled under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Deals, General Electric (GE), General Motors (GM), Market matters, Alcoa Inc (AA), Anheuser-Busch Cos (BUD), Oil
U.S. stock futures were mixed early Monday morning after the long holiday weekend to begin a week that is also set to kick off second quarter corporate earnings. While oil weakness and the dollar strength helped the mood on the Street, there is much concern over earnings.
U.S. stocks ended blended on a short trading day Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 73 points, or 0.65%, but it wasn’t enough to pull it out of bear-market territory it fell into during last week. The S&P 500 also climbed 1 point, or 0.11%, but the Nasdaq composite fell 6 points, or 0.27%, on Thursday.
No economic data is scheduled for release Monday, so investor will likely continue to focus on energy prices while expecting the beginning of earnings season. Oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel Monday to just over $143 a barrel as the dollar strengthened. Still, the dollar is expected to resume its decline and as Mideast tensions continue, traders don’t anticipate oil to decline much further.
Meanwhile, investors in general don’t anticipate corporate America to deliver good earnings. The season will officially kick off Tuesday, when Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) reports after the close. General Electric (NYSE: GE), reports Friday. The question seems to be more how bad results will be, and if they would signal a bottom from which stocks could recover.
In other corporate news, InBev announced Monday it will attempt to remove Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) entire board as after the latter rejected its $46 billion bid. InBev wants Anheuser to respond within 10 days.
NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE) and two partners stated Sunday they have reached a deal to purchase The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications Inc. While financial terms weren’t disclosed, anonymous sources put the price tage at $3.5 billion in cash. NBC was joined in the deal by the private equity firms The BlackStone Group LP and Bain Capital LLC.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that General Motors (NYSE: GM), the automaker that two analysts last week said is in need of cash, is preparing to cut thousands of additional white-collar jobs and is mulling whether to sell or close more brands.
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