US pre-open: Stocks seen slightly lower amid government shutdown; M&A in focus
US futures pointed to a slightly weaker open on Wall Street on Monday as the government remained shut down.
At 1210 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.2%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were off 0.1%.
The US government shutdown was the main focus as a Sunday session of the Senate failed to yield any kind of agreement between the Democrats and Republicans, after lawmakers failed to agree on a spending bill by the deadline last Friday.
With a vote to the end the shutdown postponed until 1700 GMT on Monday, many federal government offices will remain shut.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "There were some concerns that the shutdown may weigh on investor sentiment and halt what has been another impressive run in US stock markets but as of yet, there’s little evidence to support this. Yes futures are a little lower ahead of the open but these declines don’t even wipe out Friday’s marginal gains, which suggests that what we’re seeing is not out of the ordinary.
"As long as a solution is found in reasonable time to fund government and reopen the areas that are now closed, I don’t expect investors to concerns themselves much with it. The last shutdown in 2013 lasted 16 days and had minimal, if any, lasting economic impact and it’s this that is likely giving investors the confidence to shrug it off this time around."
In corporate news, Juno Therapeutics was set to surge at the open after agreeing for Celgene to buy the shares in the biopharmaceutical group it does not already own for around $9bn in cash.
Validus was also looking at a firmer start as insurance giant AIG agreed to buy the Bermudian reinsurance company for $5.56bn.
Halliburton was also likely to be in focus after the release of its fourth-quarter results.
Netflix is due to report earnings after the close.
On the data front, the Chicago Fed national activity index is at 1330 FGMT.