Before The Bell – What’s In Store For The Market Today?

Stock futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall Street due to a spike in deals and M&A activities, enabling investors to shake off the pessimism previous week following a weaker than expected jobless claims data, negative Philly Fed index, and the southbound Dow. Futures on the Dow is up 46 points at 10,248, futures on the S&P 500 is up 5.7 points at 1,076, and futures on the NASDAQ is up 12.5 points at 1,838. HP HPQ today announced that it has submitted to 3PAR Inc. PAR a proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of 3PAR for $24.00 per share in cash, or a total value of $1.6 billion. The proposal represents a 33.3% premium above the price quoted by Dell DELL last week. HP’s offer hasn’t been approved by the company’s board of directors yet. Once approved, HP expects the deal to materialize by the end of this calendar year. Read all about it here. Meanwhile, Potash Corp of Saskatchewan POT executives “urged” shareholders to reject BHP Billiton’s BHP $39.6 billion offer saying that they are in talks with “potential suitors” for a “superior” deal. In a statement, POT executives said that discussions are on with third-parties for better offers. Read more about it here. M&A activities like SABMiller’s SBMRY $10.9 billion acquisition of Foster’s Group FBRWF, and Campbell Soup’s CPB $7.9 billion acquisition of United Biscuits. HSBC Holdings PLC’s HBC “exclusive talks” to acquire 70% of Nedbank Group NDBKY is also expected to cause a ripple or two on the Wall Street today. On the earnings front, Sanderson Farms SAFM reports its Q3 EPS at $1.55, missing the consensus of $1.87. SAFM reports its revenue at $489.1 million, versus the estimates of $518.57 million. Read more here. Kensey Nash Corp KNSY reports its Q4 adjusted EPS at $0.54, beating the consensus of $0.52. KNSY reports its Q4 revenue at $21.9 million, as compared to the estimates of $21.34 million. Read more here. There are no major economic releases scheduled for today. On the global front, European stocks rose on Monday, led higher by the financial and mining sectors, with SABMiller and HSBC Holdings in focus following deal talk. The Stoxx Europe 600 index advanced 0.8% to 254.20 points in afternoon trading. The FTSE 100 index gained 0.8% to 5,238.50 points and the French CAC-40 index rose 0.6% to 3,547.68. On the positive side, shares of Old Mutual PLC, HSBC Holdings, Nedbank Group, Aviva PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland, and UBS AG witnessed a surge. Read more here. European manufacturing activity expanded at a more modest pace in August, indicating that the economic recovery has slowed, but remains on track for solid growth after a strong second quarter. The preliminary euro-zone composite index compiled by Markit slipped to a two-month low of 56.1 this month, down from 56.7 in July, according to a monthly survey of purchasing managers released Monday. Economists had forecast a more modest decline to 56.3. Read more here.