By Kate Gibson and Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures retained mild Monday gains after mixed economic reports showed retail sales rising 1.2% in October but a measure of business conditions in the New York region falling back into negative territory during November.
The data came with a round of deal-making as heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. (CAT 79.65, -1.39, -1.72%) said it would pay $7.6 billion for Bucyus International Inc. (BUCY 90.25, +20.63, +29.63%) and as data-storage company EMC Corp. (EMC 21.72, -0.17, -0.78%) said it would buy Isilon Systems Inc. (ISLN 33.84, +7.55, +28.72%) for $2.25 billion.
Scaling back about 20 points, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ10 11,177, +25.00, +0.22%) were up 28 points at 11,180, while S&P 500 futures (SPZ10 1,200, +4.80, +0.40%) gained 5.1 points to 1,200.5.
The Dow industrials (DJIA 11,193, -90.52, -0.80%) dropped 251.50 points last week, or 2.20% — the blue-chip benchmark’s biggest weekly point and percentage drop in three months.
Lowe’s Cos. (LOW 21.68, -0.01, -0.05%) shares traded flat in the premarket after the nation’s No. 2 home-improvement retail chain reported sales climbed 1.9% in the third quarter, below analysts’ expectations.
“Although retail sales have shown signs of a pulse in recent months, measures used to track home remodeling activity have continued to be soft,” Brian Sozzi, equity research analyst at Wall Street Strategies, wrote in a note on Lowe’s latest quarter.
U.S.-listed shares of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT 138.80, -1.11, -0.79%) (CA:POT 141.37, 0.00, 0.00%) dropped 1.4% in thin premarket trading after miner BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP 88.19, +1.22, +1.40%) said it will withdraw its $39 billion hostile offer. See more on the withdrawal of BHP’s hostil acquisiton bid for Canada’s Potash Corp.
European stock markets traded higher, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:STOXX600 271.71, +1.53, +0.57%) gaining 0.5%.
Ireland and Greece were once again in the spotlight.
Over the weekend, media reports said that European Union officials are pressuring Ireland to take a bailout in order to calm jittery bond markets, while Irish officials responded by denying claims that Dublin needs a bailout. Read more on Ireland’s woes
As for Greece, its 2009 deficit was revised up to 15.4% of gross domestic product from a previous estimate of 13.6%. See story on Greece’s deficit
In the currency markets, the euro fell to $1.3629. The dollar index (DXY 78.36, +0.28, +0.36%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, rose to 78.418.
In commodities, gold futures fell to $1,362 an ounce while crude-oil futures topped $85 a barrel.
