By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock market futures pointed to a
higher open for Wall Street on Monday, amid waning geopolitical
tensions and deal news.
Investors were also looking foward to a big week of economic
events and appearances by Federal Reserve officials. Fed Chairwoman
Janet Yellen will give a speech at the annual central bankers'
summit in Jackson Hole, Wyo. toward the end of the week.
A home builders' index for August kicks off the week's data on
Monday. On the company side, Family Dollar Stores Inc. shares rose
in premarket on a rival buyout offer from Dollar General Corp.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJU4) rose 82
points, or 0.5%, to 16,713, while those for the S&P 500 index
(SPU4) added 9.7 points, or 0.5%, to 1,962.10. Futures for the
Nasdaq 100 index (NDU4) gained 19.50 points, or 0.5%, to
4,004.50.
"Wall Street is once again coming up to tackle technical
resistance, but with the momentum built up over the last week,
conversations are likely to turn towards when, not if, it can
tackle the 17,000 level again," said Alastair McCaig, market
analyst at IG, in a note.
Helping out, he said, was the solid bounce off lows seen Friday.
The Dow industrials (DJI) recovered from a triple-digit fall on
news of a clash between Ukraine and Russian military units to
finish the week up 0.7%, while the S&P 500 index (SPX) rose
1.2% on the week. Also read: Where Soros and other big investors
are putting their money right now
Foreign ministers from Ukraine and Russia met over the weekend
and an agreement was reached over a convoy of what Russia says is
humanitarian aid. However, no progress was made toward a cease-fire
in Eastern Ukraine. The news pushed the Europe Stoxx 600 to near
August highs, helping to underpin stock futures. Asian stocks
posted mostly modest gains.
On the economic front, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index
for August will be released at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. The week also
should bring consumer prices, minutes of the latest Federal Open
Market Committee meeting and existing-home sales on Friday.
Fed Chairwoman Yellen is expected to tell the annual Fed
symposium later this week that there's still slack in the job
market, and she is not expected to shift any signal in the
easy-money stance of the Fed, Jan Hatzius, chief economist at
Goldman Sachs, said in an interview with MarketWatch.
Jitters over the timing of the first interest-rate hike from the
Fed has made investors uneasy, and they may be looking for any
signs of a timeline from the central bank.
Dollar General makes play for Family Dollar
Shares of Dollar General Corp.(DG) rose 8% in premarket trading
after offering to buy rival Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO) in an
all-cash proposal worth $78.50 a share. That's higher than Dollar
Tree Inc.'s (DLTR) cash-and-stock bid in July of $74.50 a share.
Family Dollar rose 5% in premarket and Dollar Tree fell 2%.
Ingersoll-Rand PLC (IR) said Monday it will buy the assets of
Cameron International Corp.'s(CAM) Centrifugal Compression unit for
$850 million. Neither shares were moving in premarket.
Also Sensata Technologies Holding NV(ST) said it will buy
Schrader, a maker of tire pressure monitoring sensors, from
private-equity group Madison Dearborn Partners in a deal valued at
$1 billion.
Several big-name retailers will line up to report this week,
including Home Depot Inc. (HD) on Tuesday and Target Corp. (TGT) on
Wednesday.
Oil prices(CLU4), meanwhile, fell on news that Iraqi Kurds had
recaptured a large chunk of the biggest dam in the country from
Islamist militants, with help from U.S. air power.
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