NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Investors will be watching for a couple of key earnings statements and some movement in the trade deficit Tuesday morning, looking for either positive or negative signs that could help shake the market out of its weeks of stagnation.
Traders will keep an eye on earnings from personal care products maker Johnson & Johnson (JNJ: Research, Estimates) and financial powerhouse Merrill Lynch (MER: Research, Estimates) before the bell Tuesday as both will release second quarter earnings. Analysts are looking for earnings of 79 cents a share at J&J and $1.10 at Merrill, according to Briefing.com.
May trade balance figures are also due at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. The consensus expectation, according to Briefing.com, is for the United States to be $48.3 billion in the red, which would be the same as the April trade balance.
In other news, drug maker Allergan (AGN: Research, Estimates) was down almost 6 percent in after hours trading on Monday to $77 after closing at $81.91 after a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel rejected Allergan's oral psoriasis drug Tazoral on the basis that its benefits don't outweigh the risks.
Oracle (ORCL: Research, Estimates) shares were up two cents after closing at $11.09 on news the software company extended its $7.7 billion hostile tender offer to acquire rival PeopleSoft Inc. (PSFT: Research, Estimates) until August 27 as it awaits a U.S. District Court judge's ruling on whether the takeover attempt can continue.
Oracle said that as of the close of business on Monday, about 4.7 million PeopleSoft shares, or just more than one percent of the company's total outstanding shares, had been tendered in support of its $21-per-share offer.
Business software maker Compuware (CPWR: Research, Estimates) was off more than 4 percent after the bell on news it would miss Wall Street's quarterly earnings estimates, blaming lower-than-expected new software license sales.
And Scholastic Corp (SCHL: Research, Estimates)., the U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter book series, said it expects fourth-quarter charges related to the revamping of its struggling direct-to-home book sales unit. Shares, which closed at $28.27, were unchanged in after-hours trading.
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