NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Deals in the food, auto, Internet grocery and cable TV industries greet investors returning to Wall Street Monday.
The tone for the week, however, is likely to be set by the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting on interest rates due to start Tuesday.
Early indications suggest U.S. stocks will open higher.
The Nasdaq 100 futures rose 36 points to 3,764 in early trading, and the futures were 21.10 points above fair value, a benchmark set daily by traders based on future contracts and their underlying stocks, meaning traders expect a higher open for the Nasdaq market.
S&P futures, the most widely watched futures contract, gained 5.50 points to 1,469 on the Globex trading system. They were 9.41 points above fair value, suggesting a higher open for that index.
S&P futures are also watched as an indicator of the Dow Jones industrial average, with one point of difference between the futures index and fair value equal to about eight points on the Dow Jones industrial average. So the S&P futures suggested the Dow would open up about 75 points.
On Friday, U.S. stocks were mixed. The Nasdaq composite index lost 91.50 points, or 2.3 percent, to 3,845.34, and the S&P 500 index slipped 10.70 points to 1,441.48. But the Dow Jones industrial average gained 28.63 points to 10,404.75.
The sell-off in tech stocks continued in Asia Monday, where the major markets closed mixed. Stocks were also mixed in morning trading in Europe.
In the Treasury market, the 30-year bond was unchanged in price, sending its yield, leaving its yield at 6.04 percent. Meanwhile the 10-year note, which some observers now consider their Treasury benchmark, was off 1/32 of a point in price as its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, edged up from 6.19 percent from 6.18 percent in late Friday trading.
In the currency market, the dollar strengthened versus the euro and yen in early trading. The euro fell to 93.25 cents from 93.65 cents late Friday. Meanwhile, the dollar rose to 105.50 yen from 104.67.
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In company news, Dow component Philip Morris (MO: Research, Estimates) agreed Sunday to buy Nabisco Holdings (NA: Research, Estimates) for $14.9 billion, or $55 a share, a premium of 6.5 percent premium over Nabisco's Friday closing price of 51-5/8, when it edged up 1/16. Philip Morris shares fell 1/2 to 23-7/16, then rose 1-13/16 to 25-1/4 in pre-market trade on Instinet Monday.
The deal paved the way for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco (RJR: Research, Estimates) to buy holding company Nabisco Group Holdings (NGH: Research, Estimates), whose sole holding is an 80 percent stake in Nabisco Holdings. After the Philip Morris deal closes, NGH will consist of $11.8 billion in cash as well as tobacco liability from its previous holdings in RJR. RJR will spend $30 a share for NGH, or $9.8 billion.
RJR shares fell 2-13/16 to 26-7/8 in Friday trading, while NGH shares gained 9/16 to 25-9/16, and edged up another 3/16 to 25-3/4 in pre-market trading Monday.
German-American automaker DaimlerChrysler (DCX: Research, Estimates) agreed to buy a 10 percent stake in Hyundai Motor Co., Korea's largest automaker, and the two will make a joint bid for troubled Daewoo Motor Co., Korea's No. 2 automaker. DaimlerChrysler is paying $428 million for its Hyundai stake.
General Motors (GM: Research, Estimates) and Ford Motor Co. (F: Research, Estimates) are also preparing bids for Daewoo. The Asian Wall Street Journal reported as many as five bids for Daewoo are expected Monday.
Shares of DaimlerChrysler gained 0.2 euro to 56.40 euros in Frankfurt trading Monday. Shares of Hyundai closed unchanged in South Korea.
Internet grocer Webvan (WBVN: Research, Estimates) agreed to buy competitor HomeGrocer.com (HOMG: Research, Estimates) in a $1.2 billion stock deal announced early Monday. Under the deal, HomeGrocer shareholders will get 1.07605 shares of Webvan for each of their shares, a premium of about 16 percent based on Friday's closing prices.
Webvan shares gained 19/32 to 8 23-32 in Friday trading, while shares of HomeGrocer climbed 1-13/32, or 21 percent, to 8-3/32.
Liberty Media Group (LMG.A: Research, Estimates), a cable television programming unit of AT&T (T: Research, Estimates) will become the largest shareholder of UnitedGlobalCom (UCOMP: Research, Estimates), a European telephone and cable television company, in a $3 billion deal that will give UnitedGlobalCom most of Liberty's international distribution and programming operations.
As result of the deal UnitedGlobalCom's United Pan-Europe Communications unit agreed Monday to acquire a 25 percent holding in another European cable operator, Telewest Communications, for about $3.5 billion.
Shares of Liberty's Class A stock fell 11/16 to 24-3/4 Friday. UnitedGlobalCom's class A stock gained 2-3/16 to 45-3/16 in U.S. trading Friday.
Researchers Monday will announce they have completed a map of the human genome, the blueprint for humans contained in their chromosomes. The news could rile many biotechnology stocks that could now develop new drugs using the information.
The markets have been anticipating this announcement and many stocks in the sector already reflect the potential of the new technology, said Liz Ann Sonders, money manager for Campbell, Coperthwait/US Trust.
"This project in general is phenomenal, and is probably the greatest thing coming out of science in our lifetime," she told CNNfn's Ahead of the Curve program Monday. "I think the volatility is high and I think you're in a minefield in terms of trying to navigate through these stocks." (140KB WAV) (140KB AIFF)
Earnings reports are due Monday from Walgreen (WAG: Research, Estimates), one of the nation's largest drugstore chains, and World Wrestling Federation Entertainment (WWFE: Research, Estimates). Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call forecast Walgreen earned 18 cents a share in the latest quarter, up from 16 cents a year earlier, while WWF is seen earning 16 cents a share for the quarter after it went public last fall.
Shares of Walgreens gained 7/16 to 28-1/2, while WWFE shares rose 1/8 to 16-11/16.
Elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal reported First Union (FTU: Research, Estimates) will announce soon it will close its Money Store lending unit, which it bought only two years ago for $2.1 billion, and will take a charge of more than $1 billion. First Union fell 15/16 to 27-13/16 Friday.
A report on existing home sales is due Monday, one of the last economic reports before the Fed's decision on interest rate due Wednesday. Recent reports suggesting a slowing economy have spurred stocks higher on investors' belief that the Fed would hold rates steady, at least for now.
A survey by Briefing.com forecasts that homes sold at an annual rate of 4.85 million in May, down from 4.88 million in April. 
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