Macro Focus

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 13 points to 19,724.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures dropped 0.50 points to 2,254.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 18.50 points to 4,874.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 4.20 percent to trade at $56.61 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 4.35 percent to trade at $53.74 a barrel.

• The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury will auction 3-year notes at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.
• The U.S. Treasury budget data for November will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

As the quarter and the calendar year wind down, things have turned quiet on the earnings front. Yet, the latest quarterly numbers from leading software companies Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) and Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) will be among the highlights this week.

The consensus Wall Street forecast sees strong top and bottom line growth for Adobe, though at least one analyst indicated there was limited upside during the period. On the other hand, Oracle is expected to report that earnings slipped year-over-year in the period that included the acquisition of a cloud infrastructure company.

Sell-Side Themes

Chardan downgraded Ophthotech (NASDAQ: OPHT) to Neutral and upgraded Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) to Neutral.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

• Brean downgraded Finish Line (NASDAQ: FINL) to Hold.
• Piper Jaffray downgraded Depomed (NASDAQ: DEPO) to Underweight.
• Baird upgraded AT&T (NYSE: T) to Outperform.
• FBR upgraded Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU) to Market Perform.
• Cowen started Airgain (NASDAQ: AIRG) at Outperform.
• UBS started MiMedx Group (NASDAQ: MDXG) at Sell.

Deal Talk

Twenty-First Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA) confirmed it has reached an agreement in principle regarding a possible offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares in Sky (OTC: SKYAY) it does not already own for £10.75 per share in cash less the value of any dividends subsequently paid by Sky. On Sunday, an unnamed major shareholder told Reuters the bid was too low and they would vote against the deal.

Shares of Invensense (NASDAQ: INVN) spiked as high as $11.02 Friday following a report from Reuters that TDK (OTC: TTDKY) is in talks to acquire the U.S. chipmaker who motion sensors for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Samsung Electronic, according to sources. The offer is said to be $12 per share.

In The News

The sharp rise in oil prices has fueled expectations of higher inflation, sending the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note above 2.5 percent for the first time in over two years.

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