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* Merger and acquisition news partly offset the
declines as Halliburton said it would buy Baker Hughes and
Allergan is close to a buyout deal by Actavis.
* Japan's economy unexpectedly slipped into recession in the
third quarter, setting the stage for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
to delay an unpopular sales tax hike and call a snap election
two years before he has to go to the polls.
* The Japanese data took crude futures prices lower, with Brent
<LCOc1> off 1 percent at $78.50 per barrel. Brent prices have
fallen in the last eight weeks and are down nearly 30 percent
from June.
* Baker Hughes <BHI.N> rose 16.4 percent on news Halliburton <HAL.N>
would acquire it in a cash and stock transaction of about $34.6
billion. Halliburton shares fell 2.9 percent in premarket
trading.
* Allergan <AGN.N> added 4.5 percent as the Actavis buyout
values the company as high as $65.5 billion.
* Negotiations between Hasbro <HAS.O> and DreamWorks Animation <DWA.O>
have been hampered by issues regarding the structure of the
combined company, according to a person familiar with the
matter. DreamWorks shares fell 13.3 percent.
Futures snapshot at 7:37 a.m. EST (1237 GMT):
* S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were down 5.75 points, or 0.28 percent,
with 156,801 contracts changing hands.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were down 8.75 points, or 0.21
percent, in volume of 27,684 contracts.
* Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 39 points, or 0.22 percent, with
22,525 contracts changing hands.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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