9:00AM U.S. stock futures pointed slightly higher ahead of Q2 earnings season.

U.S. stock futures moved slightly higher on Monday ahead of the second-quarter earnings season, with Alcoa (AA: chart) reporting first after market close. The aluminum producer is expected to post strong results on demand in the aerospace sector.

Among pre-market highlights, Lexmark (LXK: chart) fell 12% after it warned over Q2 and Q3 earnings, due to weaker-than-forecast sales of inkjet supplies and pricing. The company projected earnings of 64 cents to 69 cents per share, or 62 cents to 67 cents per share excluding restructuring-related benefits. Lexmark previously expected to earn 82 cents to 92 cents per share for the June quarter.

In deal news, Hexion Specialty Chemicals improved its acquisition offer for Huntsman Corp. (HUN: chart) to $10.5 billion, or $29 a share in cash. Further in M&A action, Carlyle agreed to buy Sequa in a deal worth $2.7 billion. Positive analyst comments helped Home Depot (HD: chart) gain 1.2% in the pre-open. Its stock was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Oil futures and bond yields were also in the spotlight. Crude oil futures fell 42 cents to $72.39 a barrel in electronic trading. S&P 500 futures rose 2 points at 1,544.50 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 2 points at 2,011.00. Dow industrial futures rose 22 points. Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds on Monday drifted a bit lower to 5.17% in early action.


8:30AM Asia finishes higher in a broad rally with Japan rallying on strong economic growth.

Asian markets ended higher Monday. In Japan, the Nikkei Average ended at its highest level in seven years as a much stronger-than-forecast machinery-orders data and firmer oil prices boosted energy stocks as well as precision-equipment makers such as Nikon, up 3.7% The Nikkei 225 Average ended 0.7% higher at 18,262. Machinery orders in May advanced a seasonally adjusted 5.9% from the previous month. Komatsu, the second-largest maker of earthmoving equipment in the world, added 1.9%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index also spurted 1.3% to settle at 22,817. Buying into large-cap laggards, like Hutchison Whampoa, lifted the Hang Seng Index up to a record close for a fifth straight session. Cheung Kong, the biggest developer in Hong Kong, also added 0.9% and Hutchison Whampoa soared 4.1%, while insurance firm China Life, which had only risen around 15% in the past year, surged 6.3%.

South Korean Kospi Index advanced 1.2% to 1,884. The commerce ministry on Seoul stated that exports will increase 12.8% this year to $367 billion, topping an earlier forecast for 10.6% growth. Lehman Brothers upped its forecast for South Korean 2007 economic growth to 4.5% from 4.3%. Company-wise, Posco, the fourth-largest steelmaker by output in the world, gained 2.6% on hopes of solid earnings before the second-quarter results, while Korea Electric Power rose 4.4%. Samsung, the largest memory chipmaker in the world which accounted for about 16% of exports in the country last year, jumped 2.6%.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index in China rallied 2.7% to end at 3,883. Chinese regulators set restrictions late Friday on the sale of state-owned shares in listed companies. Coal firms rallied on surging domestic demand for energy. Sichuan Shengda Industrial soared by the daily 10% limit, Shanxi Xishan Coal & Electricity Power rose 9.7% and Shanxi Guoyang New Energy gained 8.9%.

Australian S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% to 6,401. BHP Billiton, the largest diversified miner in the world, finished 3.4% higher, lifted by higher oil prices. Rio Tinto also ended 1.3% higher. The market in Taiwan finished 2% higher at 9,370.


8:15AM Hexion Specialty Chemicals raised its bid for Huntsman to $10.5 billion.

Hexion Specialty Chemicals, an Apollo Management L.P on Monday improved its acquisition offer for Huntsman Corp. (HUN: chart) to $28 a share, or $10.5 billion, up from an earlier bid of $27.25 a share. Shares of Huntsman added 1.6% in pre-market trading.

Diversified industrial manufacturing firm Sequa Corp. ((SQA.A)) agreed Monday to be bought by the Carlyle Group in a deal worth $2.7 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Carlyle will acquire all of the outstanding Class A and Class B shares of Sequa for $175.00 per share in cash. The transaction is a premium of 54% to the closing prices of Sequa''s Class A and Class B shares on July 6.


7:30AM NY-6:30PM Mumbai Sensex settles at record high on rally in banking, IT stocks.

The Sensex on BSE finished 81.61 points higher, or 0.55%, at 15,045.73.

The market-breadth was very strong as there were more than three advancers for every two decliners. On the broader market, 1,610 stocks advanced, 1,055 declined and only 72 were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 21 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,551 crore as compared to Rs 5,878 on Friday. On NSE, the turnover amounted to Rs 9,762 crore, also much lower than 12,038 crore on Friday.