This is your morning news summary and trader's outlook from Benzinga for Tuesday, May 31, 2011, covering the Memorial Day weekend and Tuesday's pre-market session.
Stock index futures are trading slightly higher this morning as traders await home prices data and consumer confidence reports. Higher stock index futures are also reflective of reports that Greece may receive a bailout from the European Union.
S&P futures increased to over 1300 points while Nasdaq and Dow Jones gained 2300.
Overseas, European stocks grew in early trade on increased efforts to create a second bailout package for Greece. At last check, the euro has also risen to a three-week high against the dollar.
Asian stocks also closed higher, with gains in Japanese equities suggesting the beginning of a recovery from March's earthquake.
On the economic calendar today, the Case-Shiller 20-City Index is due at 9:00 a.m. and the consumer confidence data will be released at 10:00 a.m. Lions Gate (NYSE: LGF) and Phillips Van Heusen (NYSE: PVH) are expected to report their quarterly earnings today as well.
In commodities news, the dollar has been hurt due to the disappointing ISM manufacturing and payroll data reports. However, crude oil continues to rise above $115 a barrel while gold has maintained a steady pace at over $1,500 an ounce. Although silver has increased to over $38.00, it is down 20% in May.
In mergers and acquisitions, Ashland (NYSE: ASH) announced it will buy the privately held International Specialty Products for $3.2 billion in order further expand into the personal care, pharmaceutical and energy markets.
In corporate news, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) cut its second quarter outlook, retracted its full year outlook, and cited mounting concerns about market factors that are negatively affecting its future sales potential. Shares of the company immediately fell on the news. Earlier this weekend, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) introduced a new category of laptops at the Computex show, and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) announced its planned launch of Mango OS smartphones in the upcoming fourth quarter. Lastly, HP (NYSE: HPQ) increased its recall of laptop batteries due to overheating that had caused fire in some notebooks.
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