- Strong Banks, Weak Credit: Treasury Rethinks TARP
- How Many US Consumers Will Shop this Weekend?
- Tuesday's Heavy Dose of Data to Dictate 'Risk' Behavior
- World's Largest Share Issue Priced at Deep Discount
- Obama says Boosting US Jobs is Top Priority
- Playboy to Outsource Most Magazine Operations: Report
- Why the Dollar Will Likely Stay Weak for Some Time
- EU Drops Proceedings Against Qualcomm
- Appeals Court Denies Microsoft's Alcatel Petition
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- HP's Mark Hurd
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- 9 Stocks That Play Rising Water Costs: Strategists
- Weis' Deal Likely Won't Change Big Money Contracts
- Gold Prices Can Double in 3 Years: Portfolio Manager
- Nov. 23: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Apple Comes to AT&T's Rescue
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Why Amazon Rules Retail
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- China Eastern to Complete Shanghai Air Buy by End '09
- JAL Slides to Record Low on Bankruptcy Jitters
- Prepare For Large Decline In Stocks, Next Year?
- Gold Will Collapse Like Oil Did in 2008: Charts
- The Social Media Gaming Threat
- Paul: Audit the Fed
- Nielsen Ratings Coming to Video Games
Text Size 
Stock index futures pointed to a lower open for Wall Street, but were off the day's lows as Dow component Merck announced it will merge with Schering-Plough in a cash and stock deal.
Schering-Plough [SGP
Loading...
()
] shareholders will get 0.5767 share in the new company and $10.50 in cash for each Schering-Plough share, the two companies said in a statement.
Merck [MRK
Loading...
()
] said the value of the deal will be about $41.1 billion and the new company will keep the Merck name.
Merck shares fell 4.5 percent in premarket trading, but Schering-Plough gained 17.4 percent.
The whole world needs to step in to stop the economic crisis, by pumping more money into the economy in a coordinated effort, White House chief economic adviser Larry Summers said on Monday.
In the financial sector, GE Capital, the finance arm of General Electric [GE
Loading...
()
], plans to sell more bonds under a government guarantee program, a source involved in the deal told Reuters on Monday. GE the parent company of CNBC.com., saw its shares fall 1.5 percent premarket.
Capital One [GE
Loading...
()
] became the latest financial to announce a dividend cut, saying it was slashing its yield from 37.5 cents to 5 cents beginning in the second quarter and holding into the future. The credit card company said the move will save $500 million annually.
Overall, financial shares continued to feel the heat and were the biggest weight on futures, with Goldman Sachs [GS
Loading...
()
] dropping 1.6 percent premarket.
However, Bank of America [BAC
Loading...
()
] shares showed some strength, gaining about 1 percent as Barron's said the firm can avoid the same fate as Citigroup by tightening up its operations, and could post strong earnings again once the financial crisis has passed.
>> Video: Buffett Says Economy Has Fallen Off Cliff
At least two dozen American and European banks benefited from the bailout of American International Group [AIG
Loading...
()
], with approximately $50 billion paid out to them since the Federal Reserve first gave aid to the insurance giant, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Goldman Sachs [GS
Loading...
()
] and Deutsche Bank received a combined $6 billion between September and December last year, the paper said.
Goldman Sachs' chief executive said he opposed the full nationalization of banks, but thought government stakes could be sensible in extreme situations, in an interview with German weekly Welt am Sonntag.
But the US should let some big troubled banks fail rather than commit more federal funds to prop them up, two key congressional Republicans said Sunday.
Senator Richard Shelby, top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said the United States should not mimic Japan, which in the 1990s propped up failing banks and prolonged its economic downturn.
And Senator John McCain, also criticized the new administration's response to the banks.
In other news, General Motors [GM
Loading...
()
] denied a report that its German carmaker Opel is preparing for bankruptcy.
Shares of Halliburton [HAL
Loading...
()
] were drawing interest, with the energy exploration firm's stock gaining nearly 4 percent after FBR said gasoline consumption would continue to decline and investors should turn their sights towards larger firms in the industry. FBR upgraded both Hallirburton and Transocean [RIG
Loading...
()
], which also edged higher, to outperform.
Best Buy [BBY
Loading...
()
] also was trading higher on an estimate from William Blair that the electronics retailer would see a 7 percentage point sales gain following the demise of Circuit City, which closed the last of its stores over the weekend.
Also in retail, Amazon [AMZN
Loading...
()
] shares rose 1.2 percent after Piper Jaffray raised the online store to buy from neutral, citing a survey showing a high level of consumer satisfaction with the company.
The newspaper industry continued its difficult year as national chain McClatchy [MNI
Loading...
()
], which owns the Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald and other papers, said it will cut 1,600 positions, or about 15 percent of its workforce.
Asian stocks were lower, while banks dragged down European markets in the morning, after the UK government raised its stake into Lloyds Banking Group to up to 77 percent at the weekend, in exchange for pledges from the bank that it will boost lending.
Print
Email
- A diet high in fat and sugar might actually be good for your portfolio.
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates discuss the economy and other subjects with CNBC's Becky Quick.
- From the AIG&T to the Merrill Lychee, Jane Wells lists this year's fashionable holiday cocktails.
- The show attracts a big TV audience every year, but this year it may take on even more importance.
- …you'll want to be prepared. Tips for getting the most out of the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy.
- Congressman Ron Paul explains to Squawk Box why he’s pushing legislation to audit the Federal Reserve.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes