US pre-open: IBM may announce largest corporate lay-off in history
Markets look set to start mixed on Monday following anti-austerity party Syriza’s win at the Greek elections this weekend.
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Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: “A new political dawn descended over Greece as Syriza swept to victory, forming a coalition with the help of the Independent Greeks party to fully secure an anti-bailout government. However, the reaction from the markets was not as disastrous as it could have been.
“It appears that the strength of the quantitative easing revealed last week, and the lack of surprise at the Syriza victory, has allowed the Eurozone indices to tentatively continue the rally that began last week, including record highs for the DAX.”
In corporate news, telecommunication giant AT&T announced it had reached an agreement with NII Holdings to purchase Nextel Mexico for approximately $1.88bn.
Another blue-chip company, IBM, may prepping the largest corporate lay-off in history, as it prepares to make redundant a massive 112,000 positions out of a global workforce of 431,000.
Post Holdings will acquire privately-held MOM Brands Co. for $1.15bn.
Oil prices were slightly up, early on Monday, with West Texas crude futures falling 1.1% to $45.11 a barrel and Brent sliding 1.2% to $48.22 a barrel.
CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler added: “There has been a general shift to easing monetary policy at other global central banks since falling oil prices have lowered the inflation outlook, the onus remains on the Fed to hold the line on tightening.”
Over on COMEX, gold futures were lower by 1.11% to $1,278.20 while the dollar was advancing against the yen even while giving back some terrain versus the pound and the euro.