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* Despite that, energy shares could come under
pressure as crude oil fell sharply, due to a possible deal with
Iran that could bring an end to sanctions and allow an increase
in the country's oil exports. Crude oil fell 1.8 percent to
$47.94 per barrel.
* Separately, an increase in the U.S. dollar could weigh on
multi-nationals.
* Both the dollar and commodity prices have given investors
reason to be cautious of late, especially going into the
first-quarter earnings season, where traders will look to see
how much oil prices and the strong U.S. dollar will impact
corporate bottom lines. Last week, the S&P 500 fell 2.2 percent,
the Dow lost 2.3 percent and the Nasdaq declined 2.7 percent.
* In deal news, OptumRx Corp, a unit of UnitedHealth Group,
agreed to buy pharmacy benefit manager Catamaran Corp in a deal
worth $12.78 billion. Shares of UnitedHealth, a Dow component,
rose 2.7 percent to $121.60 before the bell while U.S. shares of
Catamaran added 26 percent to $60.75.
* Ireland's Horizon Pharma Plc said it would acquire Hyperion
Therapeutics Inc in an all-cash deal worth about $1.1 billion,
while Fujifilm Holdings Corp agreed to acquire U.S.
biotechnology firm Cellular Dynamics International Inc for $307
million. [ID:nL3N0WW3JC][ID:nT9N0W802R]
* Hyperion rose 5.6 percent to $45.13 in light premarket trading
while Cellular more than doubled in premarket and was among the
most active Nasdaq stocks.
* The deals follow reports last week of Intel Corp being in
talks to buy Altera Corp in a deal that could top $10 billion.
[ID:nL3N0WT59X]
* Trading could be quiet this week as investors look ahead to
earnings season, which will start in earnest in mid-April, as
well as to the March payroll report, which will be released on
Friday, when stock markets are closed for the Good Friday
holiday, leaving investors unable to trade on the data until the
following week.
* The jobs report will be closely studied for any indication of
when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first
time in almost a decade.
Futures snapshot at 6:56:
* S&P 500 e-minis were up 9.25 points, or 0.45 percent, with
111,796 contracts changing hands.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 28.25 points, or 0.65 percent, in
volume of 21,774 contracts.
* Dow e-minis were up 88 points, or 0.5 percent, with 26,557
contracts changing hands.
(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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