Pre Market Trading Indications

Following Friday's large declines, futures indicate a modestly lower open for the mkt following a number of negative headlines from the financial sector. Shares of Wachovia (WB) are indicated 8% lower pre-mkt after the co reported Q1 results this morning, earlier than expected, showing a loss of $0.14 vs. the $0.40 First Call consensus. It announced plans to raise capital through a public offering of common stock and perpetual convertible preferred stock, and also lowered its quarterly dividend to $0.375. Separately, WSJ reported that Deutsche Bank (DB) is seeking to sell as much as $20 bln of debt related to leveraged buyouts to a collection of investors that include private-equity firms, while Swiss media reported over the weekend that Credit Suisse (CS) could announce further write-downs of up to 5 bln Swiss francs ($4.99 bln) when it posts Q1 results later this month. But futures modestly bounced off their lows following better than expected Retail Sales data for March. Sales rose 0.2% (consensus 0.0%), while the reading from Feb was revised higher to -0.4% from -0.6%. Sales ex-autos came in at 0.1%, in line with expectations, while the prior month was revised to -0.1% from -0.2%. Dow futures are currently -26; Nasdaq futures are currently -3.4; S&P futures are currently -6.3.

Commodities, May crude oil is trading up 68 cents to $110.82...

In Europe, mkts fell after Wall Street's major averages each lost more than 2% on Friday on concerns over falling corporate earnings. FTSE is currently -0.9%; DAX is currently -0.9%; CAC is currently -0.3%.

In Asia, mkts closed sharply lower after Wall Street tumbled late last week on concerns over a slowdown in the U.S. economy and the outlook for corporate profits. Nikkei closed -3.1%; Hang Seng closed -3.5%; Shanghai Composite closed -5.6%...

Notable pre-market Calls include Downgrades: GE at Bear Stearns and Oppenheimer; Initiations: V (Outperform) at Keefe Bruyette... On the

Earnings calendar: ELS, INFY and STLY are the only cos confirmed to report today after the close... On the

Economic calendar, Feb Business Inventories (consensus 0.6%; prior 0.8%) are due out at 10:00ET.

Gapping up in reaction to strong earnings/guidance: ANTP +32.5%, ETN +5.8%, GWW +4.4%, ALO +1.0%, FII +1.0%...

M&A news: CC +55.1% (BBI proposes to acquire Circuit City for at least $6.00/share in cash), CLAY +22.4% (to be acquired by Greenfield Partners for $6.00/share in cash)...

Other news: AGIX +41.7% (announces "encouraging interim results" from Phase 3 clinical trial of AGI-1067 in type 2 diabetes), AAI +26.6% (updates financial information in response to Friday's market activity; also upgraded to Add at Calyon), INGN +12.1% (announces that ADVEXIN Ph. III clinical trial data in patients with recurrent head and neck cancer confirm earlier Ph. II results of ADVEXIN efficacy), NTRI +7.5% (will replace FRNT in the S&P SmallCap 600 after the close on 4/15), NWA +5.8% and DAL +5.4% (aims to unveil NWA merger pact), TSL +2.6% (discontinues development of polysilicon production facility), AMR +2.0% (rebounding modestly; announced plan to be back to a full, normal schedule on Sunday), PTEC +1.9% (says profit to grow 'immediately'; purchase will boost profit, to raise forecast April 22- Bloomberg), CETV +1.5% (Cramer makes positive comments on MadMoney), VLO +1.3% (mentioned positively in Barron's), PRGO +1.2% (announces approval for over-the-counter children's Cetirizine oral solution), REP +1.1% (CNPC interested in Repsol assets - South Morning China Post)...

Analyst upgrades: PETM +1.5% (upgraded to Buy at BofA), EV +1.2% (upgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan).