The Market In 5 Minutes: Stocks Return Higher From Three-Day Weekend

Below is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day -- it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. Apply for daily AM access by clicking here or email minutes@benzinga.com.

Macro Focus

U.S. stock futures inched higher Tuesday, putting the market on track to add slightly to last week's gain as traders returned from a three-day weekend.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 12 points to 18,492.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 1.50 points to 2,179.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 3.75 points to 4,799.00.

Oil prices traded mixed as Brent crude futures fell 0.59 percent to trade at $47.35 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 1.08 percent to trade at $44.92 a barrel.

The services PMI for August is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET.
The ISM non-manufacturing index for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
The Fed labor market conditions index for August is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET.
The Treasury is set to auction 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The Treasury will also auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The TD Ameritrade Investor Movement Index for August will be released at 12:30 p.m. ET.
San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Reno, Nevada at 8:30 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

U.S. stocks surged on Friday after a disappointing August jobs report, which led investors to believe a rate hike out of the Fed isn't a likely option for September.

The Q2 reporting season is all but over, so that and the holiday-shortened trading week will leave things fairly quiet on the earnings front. Perhaps the two most prominent and anticipated quarterly reports scheduled for this week are those from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) and Kroger (NYSE: KR).

Sell-Side Themes

Jefferies downgraded Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) to Hold and upgraded Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD) to Buy.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Argus downgraded VeriFone (NYSE: PAY) to Hold.
DA Davidson downgraded VF Corp (NYSE: VFC) to Neutral.
Evercore upgraded Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) to Buy.
Credit Suisse upgraded Michaels (NASDAQ: MIK) to Outperform.
Summit Redstone started Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK) at Buy.
Imperial started Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ: HA) at Outperform.

Deal Talk

Cepheid (NASDAQ: CPHD) will be acquired by Danaher (NYSE: DHR) for $53 per share.

Bayer (OTC: BAYRY) confirmed advanced negotiations with Monsanto (NYSE: MON) concerning a potential deal. Bayer said it's prepared to offer $127.50 per share to acquire Monsanto in a negotiated transaction.

In The News

Financier Jho Low, who investigators believe is at the center of one of the largest-ever financial scandals, kept up a stream of messages to an official at AmBank Bhd. Low was obsessed about how the bank handled the peculiar accounts of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Elon Musk’s latest admonition to Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) employees -- produce more, spend less -- is no simple belt-tightening before he asks investors for more cash. It also reflects Wall Street’s schism about the health of the electric-car maker.

Blogosphere

What if Warren Buffett took one final puff of Berkshire Hathaway and then threw it in the gutter as he originally intended to?

Trending

DVAX MON INTC BIIB GE CPHD SPLK DO ENB DHR SE MRVL CMG IBM

#LoweRoast The Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe aired Monday night. The special gathered a slew of celebrities to rip on Lowe over his acting career, good looks and infamous past liaisons and sex tape while his family sat in the audience. Conservative political commentator Ann Coulter found herself to be recipient of the night's most scathing jabs.