Stocks To Open Lower
Stocks were set to open off Monday as
the market looked ahead to Tuesday’s meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers.
The futures market has priced in a quarter-point cut in the Federal Funds rate.
Business inventories fell 0.3% in
March, roughly in line with expectations. The inventory-to-sales ratio remained
at 1.37 for the third consecutive month.
Gartner Dataquest said Monday that global
semiconductor revenue would come in at $188 billion in 2001, a 16% decline from
year-2000 levels.
SunTrust Banks
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$14.7 billion bid for Wachovia
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planned $12.5 billion purchase of the North Carolina bank. SunTrust’s bid values
Wachovia at $70.06 per share vs. First Union’s
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share.
After Friday’s close, Nordstrom
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announced a 24% fall in Q1 profits, beating lowered forecasts. The upscale retailer posted
April 30 first-quarter earnings of 18 cents a share vs. 25 cents a year ago.
Energy company Kerr-McGee
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said Monday it has agreed to buy HS Resources
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$1.3 billion, plus the assumption of about $450 million of debt. The payment
consists of 70% cash and 30% Kerr-McGee common stock. Kerr-McGee will exchange
0.9404 of a share for each share of HS Resources common stock.