NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks could get a boost Monday from merger and corporate news, although the fighting in Yugoslavia is expected to keep some players on the sidelines.
''It's looking fairly good,'' said Thom Brown, market analyst at Rutherford, Brown & Catherwood. ''Business news has been pretty good.''
He added, ''The only negative on the horizon is the Kosovo thing. It's hard to get a read on that right now because nobody knows how bad it will get.''
On the merger front, oil stocks were higher in Europe on news that BP Amoco Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BPA.L) is in talks to buy Atlantic Richfield Co. (NYSE:ARC - news) in a possible $25 billion deal.
Published reports over the weekend said British drug group Glaxo Wellcome Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: GLXO.L) had held early-stage merger talks with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY - news).
Also, CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS - news) and King World Productions Inc. (NYSE:KWP - news) were reported to have held merger talks recently.
However, a meeting tomorrow of Federal Reserve policy-makers, and the wait for key economic data due later this week, could restrain stock market trading, analysts said.
''Every Monday we get deals, and deals are very helpful, but there's still an overlay about the Balkans and there is still some uncertainty over the Fed meeting,'' said Larry Wachtel, market analyst at Prudential Securities. ''It's going to continue this way for a couple of weeks until we get a message about earnings.''
Peter Cardillo, director of research at Westfalia Investments, expects the market to move to new highs if, as expected, the Fed makes no change in interest rate policy at its Tuesday meeting.
He expects mutual fund money to pour into stocks ahead of the April 15 federal income tax deadline.
''Unless there is a major escalation in Yugoslavia, I expect we will pierce 10,000 (on the Dow) this week,'' Cardillo said.
The market gets its first report in a data-laden week this morning with February new home sales at 1000 EST/1500 GMT.
The March unemployment report is due Friday. Clues to U.S. economic prospects could also come from the March U.S. consumer confidence report, due Tuesday, and the National Association of Purchasing Management February report and March personal income and spending data, all due Thursday.
Internet stocks could see some action this morning. High-flying Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN - news) said it would launch an auction service that will put it in direct competition with Internet auction houses such as eBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY - news).
In blue chips, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) is to announce Monday a five-year, $400 million deal to manage the computer operations of retailer Dayton Hudson Corp. (NYSE:DH - news), an IBM spokesman said.
In earnings news, Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE:EK - news) said this morning it sees 1999 earnings per share up 10 to 20 percent from last year. The stock was higher in pre-opening trade. |
