LONDON -- Stock index futures at 7 a.m. EDT indicate that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.44%) may open a mere two points lower this morning, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.27%) may open down by half a point. Last week's strong job figures helped the CNN Fear & Greed index climb strongly: It closed up 13 points to 76 on Friday, placing it into "extreme greed" territory.
European markets edged lower this morning, but volumes were low, as London and Tokyo markets were closed for a public holiday. Among the big movers in Europe were German industrial gas producer Linde AG, which was up 3.9% at 7:15 a.m. EDT after its latest results beat expectations. Heading the other way was German utility firm E.ON SE, which was 7.1% lower after it forecast a 15% fall in earnings for the current year on Friday, citing lower power prices.
No major economic reports are due in the U.S. today, so investors are likely to focus on corporate news. Volumes may also be lower than usual due to the lack of London trading. Companies that may see strong interest today include Tyson Foods and Sysco. Analysts expect Tyson to report second-quarter earnings of $0.45 per share on revenue of $8.58 billion, while Sysco is expected to report third-quarter earnings of $0.43 per share on revenue of $11.1 billion. Other major companies due to report results today include Anadarko Petroleum, which is expected to report earnings of $0.93 per share on revenue of $3.4 billion after markets close tonight.
Berkshire Hathaway stock could also see active trading after Warren Buffett's firm unveiled a 51% increase in first-quarter profit after markets closed on Friday. The firm said net income rose to $4.89 billion from $3.25 billion during the same period of the previous year. Berkshire stock closed up by 1.25% on Friday and is almost 2% higher in premarket trading this morning. Other companies that could attract additional interest today include Intel, which is 1.2% higher in premarket trading after it announced that it's buying Stonesoft Oyj, a Finnish software company specializing in cloud-based security products, for $389 million in cash. BMC Software is up 1.7% in premarket trading after Reuters reported that it may shortly be acquired by Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital.
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