US Stock Futures Down After Strong Losses For Japanese Equities; Berkshire Hathaway To Buy Lubrizol For $135 per share

US stock futures are lower this morning following strong drop in Japanese markets after Friday's strong earthquake. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 28 points to 11,975.00 and futures on the S&P 500 index fell 2.70 points to 1,298.50. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 10.75 points to 2,292.00.

US markets closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.50% to close at 12,044.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRK announced its plans to acquire 100% of outstanding shares of Lubrizol Corporation LZ for $135 per share in cash. Berkshire Hathaway will buy LZ for $9.7 billion, including about $0.7 billion in net debt. The purchase price represents a 28% premium over LZ's closing price on Friday.

Shares of many uranium producers tumbled in US pre-market trading. Shares of Denison Mines Corp DNN and Uranium Energy Corp UEC both dipped about 24% in pre-market trading. However, shares of Uranerz Energy Corp URZ tumbled about 14% in pre-market trading.

Shares of ReneSola Ltd SOL and Suntech Power Holdings Co STP both jumped about 13% in pre-market trading.

Dole Food Company Inc DOLE is projected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.18 on revenue of $1.55 billion. ZAGG Incorporated ZAGG is expected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.12 on revenue of $21.23 million.

European markets were mixed today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.12%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.16%.

Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dipping 6.18%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.52% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.13%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.41% and India's Sensex jumped 1.46%.

The US dollar gained 0.1% to ¥81.903 against the yen. However, the euro rose 0.3% to $1.3949 versus the dollar.

Light crude for April delivery dropped $2.34 to $98.82 a barrel on Globex.

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