U.S. stock futures were mixed on Monday morning. With a new all-time high for the S&P under his belt, Mr. Market is looking ahead to a strong second quarter even as the current bull market extends past the mean duration of four years.
Futures at 8:45 a.m.: DJIA: +0.02%, S&P 500: -0.02%, NASDAQ: +0.12%.
Here’s what’s buzzing on Monday morning:
Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) founder Michael Dell will reportedly only consider a buyout offer from Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) that allows him to retain the title of chief executive officer. A person familiar with the discussions tells Bloomberg that Mr. Dell wants to retain an influential role at his namesake company, but the consortium of private equity firms with competing bids on the table don’t all see him as a key player moving forward.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) surged nearly 12 percent in pre-market trading after the beleaguered electric-vehicle company announced that sales of its award-winning Model S sedan exceeded targets set in February. The company reported that it sold more than 4,750 units versus guidance for 4,500 units. The stock broke a long-standing resistance level of about $40.
Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) increased fractionally in Monday’s pre-market. The company attracted positive attention after it increased its dividend by 21 percent, or from $0.14 per share to $0.17 per share. This gives the technology company a dividend yield of about 3.3 percent…
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) attracted some positive attention to itself after announcing the “return of its great gas rollback.” The program allows customers with a Wal-Mart gift card to receive a discount of up to 10 cents per gallon, while those using a Wal-Mart credit card can receive a discount of up to 15 cents per gallon. COO Gisel Ruiz sums up the strategy in a statement: “For every cent gas prices climb, consumers have $1 billion less to spend.”
eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) stock was up as much as 2.55 percent in pre-market trading on Monday after the online marketplace received an upgrade from Hold to Buy from analysts at Canaccord Genuity. The firm pointed out that eBay has a stable growth platform backed by PayPal, which could provide a surprising amount of upside to the stock.
MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) shareholders has urged shareholders to support its proposed merger with T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom (DTEGY.PK). The move comes after two proxy advisory firms recommended that shareholders vote against the deal. The company is trying to hold a special meeting of stockholders on April 12 to vote on the deal, with some shareholders trying to delay the vote.
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