U.S. Stocks Head for Flat Open

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks headed for a largely flat open Monday following back-to-back sessions last week that brought fresh records for several major market indexes and amid word of a big buyout.

While stock futures showed little movement early Monday, investor sentiment perhaps received a boost from renewed talk of acquisition activity, which has been a big driver of the stock market's gains in the past year. Vodaphone Group PLC is weighing whether to make a huge $160 billion bid for Verizon Communications Inc., the Financial Times reported Monday. The newspaper cautioned that Vodaphone has yet to approach Verizon. Vodaphone, the report said, would pursue the deal to obtain full ownership of Verizon Wireless, which Vodaphone and Verizon now own jointly.

In a much more modest but confirmed, deal, restaurant chain operator IHOP Corp. said it would acquire Applebee's International Inc. for about $1.9 billion.

While confidence in last week's advance appeared to hold through the weekend, Wall Street likely wouldn't have been surprised if some investors were inclined to take some money off the table following the sharp gains.

Dow Jones industrial futures expiring in September rose 7, or 0.05 percent, to 13,980, while Standard & Poor's 500 index futures slipped 0.70, or 0.04 percent, to 1,559.40. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 1.75, or 0.09 percent, to 2,045.00.

Last week's run-up came ahead of a flurry of quarterly results - 11 of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones industrials are due to report this week - and in advance of key readings on inflation.

Forecasts from companies should help indicate whether they can continue to put up solid profit growth as pricing pressures fluctuate, in part because of forces such as rising oil prices.

On Monday, light, sweet crude futures rose 17 cents to $74.10 in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average finished flat. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.63 percent, while the often-volatile Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.36 percent.

In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.27 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.04 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.11 percent.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

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