The stock market opens on a modestly higher note, which follows the
steep sell-off last week that sent the S&P 500 near a three-month
low.
There are a few merger and acquisition items of note. Farm products
company Bunge is buying Corn Products for $4.8 billion, including
roughly $400 million in debt. Waste companies Republic Services and
Allied Waste Industries are going to merge, with Republic paying
roughly $6 billion in stock to acquire Allied.
Walgreen reported a increase in quarterly profit compared to last year,
but its earnings of $0.58 per share fell short of Wall Street's
expectations by a penny.
Crude oil has traded in a volatile manner in premarket trading, and is
currently up 0.6% to $136.13 per barrel despite Saudi Arabia announcing
that it is increasing its output by 200,000 barrels per day starting in
July.