Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Monday, April 30:
1. Merger Monday
Investors digested news of a few multi-billion dollar mergers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Shaking up the UK supermarket sector, J Sainsbury (OTC:JSAIY) and Asda, the UK arm of Walmart (NYSE:WMT), confirmed they had agreed a £15 billion merger to create Britain's biggest supermarket group by market share, surpassing current leader Tesco .
Shares of Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY) jumped 15% after the deal news, while major competitor Tesco (LON:TSCO) lost 1.3%.
Stateside, T-Mobile and Sprint announced on Sunday they had agreed to a $26 billion all-stock deal that, if allowed by antitrust enforcers, will create the country's third-largest wireless carrier.
Sprint (NYSE:S) shares tumbled around 7% in premarket trade, while T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) shares gained a little over 1%.
Finally, Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) is set to buy refining peer Andeavor (NYSE:ANDV) for more than $20 billion, in a combination that would create the largest U.S. refiner by capacity, leapfrogging Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO).
The potential cash-and-stock deal, which is expected to be announced on Monday, values Andeavor at about $150 per share, according to people familiar with the matter.
The offer would represent a premium of 22.6% to Andeavor stock's Friday close.
2. U.S. Stock Futures Point To Positive Open
U.S. stock futures pointed to a positive open, as investors prepped for another busy week of earnings and economic data heading into a traditionally difficult month for financial markets.
The blue-chip Dow futures rose 105 points, or about 0.4%, the S&P 500 futures tacked on 8 points, or nearly 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures added 38 points, or roughly 0.6%.
The coming week will be dominated by several market-moving events, with the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting, April's jobs report and earnings from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on the agenda.
Elsewhere, in Europe, the continent's major bourses posted slight gains, as companies delivered strong earnings figures.
Earlier, in Asia, markets in the region closed mostly higher on the last trading day of the month, as tensions in the Korean Peninsula eased and first-quarter earnings shone.
3. Dollar, Yields Tick Higher Ahead Of Fresh Batch Of Data
The dollar ticked higher against a basket of currencies, as investors looked ahead of a fresh batch of U.S. economic data.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was around 0.3% higher at 91.53, not from Friday's high of 91.79, its strongest level since Jan. 11.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield stood at 2.964%, staying below the 3%-threshold. It climbed to a more than four-year peak of 3.035% last week.
The recent bounce in the dollar and yields came as strengthening inflation prospects added to expectations of a more hawkish approach from the Federal Reserve this year.
4. Fed's Preferred Inflation Metric in Focus
Monday's calendar features a closely-watched report on personal income and spending for March, which includes the personal consumption expenditures inflation data - the Federal Reserve's preferred metric for inflation - at 8:30AM ET (1230GMT).
The consensus forecast is that the report will show that the core PCE price index inched up 0.2% last month, after rising at a similar rate a month earlier.
On an annualized basis, core PCE prices are expected to rise 1.9%, compared to a 1.6%-increase in the preceding month.
The Fed uses core PCE as a tool to help determine whether to raise or lower interest rates, with the aim of keeping inflation at a rate of 2% or below.
Rising inflation would be a catalyst to push the Fed toward raising interest rates at a faster pace than currently expected.
Investors will also get the April reading on manufacturing activity in the Midwest at 9:45AM ET (1345GMT), followed by a report on March pending home sales at 10AM ET (1400GMT).
The Fed is not expected to take any action on interest rates at this week's meeting. The majority of economists believe the central bank will hike rates three more times this year, with the next move higher coming at its meeting in June.
5. Oil Slips On Rising U.S. Rig Count
Crude prices started the week in negative territory, weighed down by a rise in U.S. drilling for new production.
U.S. drillers added five oil rigs in the week to April 27, bringing the total count to 825, General Electric (NYSE:GE)'s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday.
That was the highest number since March 2015, underscoring worries about rising U.S. output.
New York-traded WTI crude futures lost 66 cents, or about 1%, to $67.44 per barrel, while Brent futures declined 71 cents, or roughly 1%, to $73.08 per barrel.