Futures for the leading stock indexes are off about 0.1% this morning, suggesting a slight pullback after seven straight days of gains for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
Shares of Merck (MRK) are up 4.5% premarket, after it said�it had been given the green light to continue study of its vytorin cholesterol treatment. As Reuters notes:
The study, called IMPROVE-IT, will now continue to its conclusion in September 2014, the drugmaker said. The panel’s decision suggests that no safety concerns have arisen for Vytorin.
Life Technologies (LIFE) stock is also rising, up about 2% after reports that KKR (KKR) may join other private-equity firms and make a bid for the biotech company:
A takeover of Life, valued at $12.5 billion including debt, is a tall order, particularly for private-equity firms limited in how much cash they are willing to put into any one deal. But buyout firms, which typically take on debt to purchase public companies, have been circling Life, attracted to its steady cash flow, people familiar with their thinking said.
Shares of apparel retailer Urban Outfitters (URBN) are off 1.5% despite reporting a doubling of quarterly profit. However, earnings just missed consensus estimates, while same-store sales were essentially flat.
Yum Brands (YUM) stock is up 6% after the parent of the KFC fast food chain said same-store sales in China fell by 20%, better than the 25% expected; the figure suggests it’s repairing some of the reputational damage done by a chicken scare in the country. Overall, February KFC same-store sales were flat, while Pizza Hut’s same-store sales were up 13%.
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