Daily Summary....

U.S. Markets

Dow -108.03 (-0.85%)
Nasdaq -30.51 (-1.26%)
S&P 500 -14.60 (-1.05%)

News That Moved the Market

Markets Fall; Factory Orders Disappoints. Markets drifted lower Monday after posting a strong gain last week. After opening down, major indices fell even lower after factory orders came in weaker than expected. The figure increased by 2.3%, but fell short of the 2.6% jump economists were anticipating.

With little news during the day, buyers seemed to sit the session out and let seller regain control.

Google Reacts To Microsoft's Bid. Microsoft's (MSFT, -0.1%) bid for Yahoo (YHOO, +3.3%) remained in focus Monday, as major players began reacting to the move. Google (GOOG, -4.0%) CEO Eric Schmidt reportedly called Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang to explore partnerships between the companies to fend off the unsolicited bid. Meanwhile, an executive at Google said on a blog during the weekend that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo could create antitrust issues, despite Google owning a greater market share of the Internet search market than its two rivals combined. Yahoo said that it still has made "absolutely no decisions" about the proposed deal, but I do not know many Yahoo share holders opposed to it.


After Hours Earnings Reports.

News Corp. (NWS, -0.3% day; -0.0% A.H. ) reported a slight increase in profit, but missed estimates by a penny. The company closed its deal to buy Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones in December.

Yum Brands (YUM, +1.6% day, -1.3% A.H.) top and bottom-line fourth quarter figures beat estimates, but its 2008 EPS guidance fell short of expectations.

Tomorrow Notable Earnings

Toyota (TM) Before Open
Disney (DIS) After Close
NYSE Euronext (NYE) Before Open
CME (CME) Before Open

Economic Events:

10:00 AM: ISM Services