Before the Bell

Deal fever continued to run red hot as the worlds top aluminum producer said it will make a hostile $27 billion bid, sending stock indexes higher in premarket trading on Monday, on a day that was otherwise muted by the U.K. bank holiday and post-earnings season lull.

The dollar was weaker on expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later in the year, based on last weeks slower-than-expected growth in jobs creation. The election of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as Frances president had little effect on trading of the euro.

Bonds were slightly weaker in anticipation of the U.S. Treasury selling $32 billion in new bonds. The fixed income market was also looking ahead to the Federal Reserves interest rate decision on Wednesday.

Oil fell to around $65 a barrel, reflecting easing concerns of supply tightness in the U.S.Elsewhere in the news, Johnson & Johnson dropped development of its drug-coated heart stent after it failed to show any improvement over a rival device made by Boston Scientific Corp.

Stents are tiny wire mesh tubes used to prop open recently unclogged heart arteries.Over the weekend, Spider-Man 3 set box office records yielding $148 million, beating Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest, which raked in $135.6 million in its opening weekend last July.And finally, Roger Clemens announced on Sunday he would return to the New York Yankees for $28 million, which amounts to about 9.2 million Happy Meals at McDonalds.

Derek Caney - Editor
www.reuters.com