AP News, February 20th, 2007
Stock futures traded in a tight range Tuesday as investors sought direction after the long weekend, with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. in focus after agreeing to merge and results due from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
S&P 500 futures dipped 0.50 points at 1,458.40 and Nasdaq 100 futures edged down 0.25 points at 1,827.00.
U.S. stock markets were closed on Monday for Presidents' Day. On Friday, U.S. stocks closed mixed, with Microsoft Corp. losing ground after CEO Steve Ballmer said some analysts have been over-optimistic with their Vista sales forecasts, though the Dow Jones industrial average closed at a fresh high.
The dollar gained ground against the yen ahead of a Bank of Japan interest-rate decision and data on U.S. consumer prices, both of which are due on Wednesday. The dollar added 0.4 percent against the Japanese currency to change hands at 120.16 yen.
Crude futures edged higher, with the March-dated contract adding 9 cents at $58.62 a barrel in electronic trading.
Among companies in focus, Sirius Satellite Radio has agreed to buy XM Satellite Radio in a stock swap deal that will value the combined company at around $13 billion.
The companies billed the deal as a merger of equals, but shares in XM Satellite rose around 17.2 percent amid thin volumes in Frankfurt, while Sirius Satellite shares dropped 4.3 percent in Frankfurt.
In other deals, Vulcan Materials Co. said it has agreed to buy smaller construction aggregates company Florida Rock Industries Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $4.6 billion.
Among drug makers, Shire PLC said it would buy New River Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $2.6 billion in cash.
Retailing giant Home Depot Inc. said its fourth-quarter net profit slipped to $925 million, or 46 cents a share from $1.3 billion, or 60 cents a share.
Meanwhile, Target Corp. said Monday it expects February sales at stores open at least one year to climb between 4 percent to 6 percent, compared with sales in the same month a year ago. The estimate is based on sales in the first two weeks of the month plus an outlook for the remaining two weeks.
Wal-Mart Stores is expected to post fourth-quarter earnings per share of 90 cents.
U.K. bank Barclays reported a 33 percent jump in 2006 net profit to 4.57 billion pounds ($8.91 billion), or 69.8 pence a share. Growth was driven by the firm's investment banking unit Barclays Capital, where pretax profit rose 55 percent to 2.22 billion pounds. Shares in the bank slipped 0.6 percent in London.
Overseas the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index slipped 0.1 percent at 6,437.70 as it awaited direction from Wall Street. Stocks in Japan closed mixed before the Bank of Japan decision, with many markets shuttered for holidays.
