Monday, June 11, 2007

Morning Market Comment

Ok, so it's Monday morning and I'm wondering where all the deals are. I was fully expecting nothing on the U.S. Steel (X) front after Severstal denied it was talking to ThyssenKrupp. X is down more than $4 this morning. But I had thought we'd get at least one $5 bln + transaction. All I see is that Affiliate Computer (ACS) says it will entertain bids to compete against an offer from its chairman and Cerberus Capital Management. IBM is buying a Swedish software company, Teleogic, for $745 mln. And there's a Peru Copper buyout. And here's a late breaker: James River to be acquired by DE Shaw for $575 mln.

Dillard's has recently been talked about as a buyout candidate. NY Post throw cold water on that: DILLARD'S SALE TALK SILENCED.

Friday is a big quarterly expiration Friday though it appears this morning that OEX options open interest isn't especially bloated and that the OEX will have to move either several points down, or several points up before meaningful computer driven activity is triggered to enhance trading direction one way or another.

10 year treasury is weak again, down 11/32nds.. yield back to 5.15%. U.S. Treasuries Decline as Investors Abandon Rate-Cut Forecasts.

On the medical front, this Drudge headline is getting lots of readers: Antihistamine Shows Promise in Treating Alzheimer's... The drug in question is Dimebon which is the lead product of a company called Medivation (MDVN) which is flying this morning with a gain of about 40%. Here's another related link: Medivation Alzheimer's Data Show Benefit.

Bristol-Myers, ImClone say FDA grants priority review of cancer drug... not much movement in IMCL.

Adding insult to injury for U.S. Steel buyout speculators, trouble at Nucor:
Nucor sees earnings well below analysts' view.

This story appeared June 4th.. Cadence Could Be Entertaining Suitors. I wonder whatever happened there? Hmmm.

Gold and crude both up by about 3/4's of a percent.

No comments: