(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stock futures fell on Monday as a steep decline in oil prices and Lennar Corp.'s (
LEN) wider than expected quarterly loss spooked investors.
At 8:10 am ET, the S&P 500 futures fell 6 points to 1055. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declined 49 point to 9684. The Nasdaq Composite futures dropped 8.50 points to 1712.75.
Early on Monday, homebuilder Lennar Corp. (NYSE:
LEN) reported that its fiscal third quarter net loss widened to $171.6 million, or 97 cents per share, compared with a loss of $89 million, or 56 cents per share, in the year- ago period. Revenue plunged 35% to $720.7 million from $1.11 billion.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:
DELL) said Monday that it has agreed to acquire IT services group Perot Systems Corp. (NYSE:
PER) in a deal valued at around $3.9 billion. The Austin-Texas based pc maker said it will begin a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding Class A common stock of Perot for $30 a share in cash. The offer is at a roughly 68% premium to the closing price of $17.91 a share on Friday.
Meanwhile, PetroHawk Energy (NYSE:
HK) announced Monday, that it has agreed to sell its Permian Basin properties to a privately owned company for $376 million in cash.
A study released Monday in the Lancet showed that Eli Lilly & Co.'s (NYSE:
LLY) Phase III clinical trial of its lung cancer drug Alimta showed a significant survival benefit in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
The U.S. dollar bounced higher on Monday as investors stayed away from risk-oriented trades ahead of this week's meeting of U.S. Federal Reserve policy makers and a summit of the leaders of the Group of 20 global economic powers.
On the economic front, leading indicators data is due for release at 10:00 am on Monday.
US stocks finished up on Friday as a number of analysts issued upgrades on several stocks, including Dow components Procter and Gamble and Chevron.
European stocks retreated in afternoon trade. At 12:32 pm London time, the UK FTSE fell 40.27 points or 0.78% to 5,132.62. The German DAX and French CAC decreased 1.10% and 0.66% respectively.
Asian stocks finished lower. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong dropped 150.60 points or 0.70% to 21,472.85
NYMEX crude oil for October delivery declined as much as $1.76 or 2.4% to $70.28 a barrel in electronic trading.
Disclosure: Author doesn't own any of the stocks discussed here.
