Rise and Shine (Monday, October 3, 2005)

Hey ladies and Gents!

Today I have off from school, so I actually have the opportunity to observe the market in the morning (something that I haven't been able to do since the end of August)!


Todays market points to a higher opening because of the merger news. One merger that caught my eye, is the merger of NRG Energy (NRG) and a small private company called Texas Genco for over 5.8 billion dollars! This is showing some healthy consolidation in the energy sector, as bigger, more established companies are merging and taking over small companies that contain key assets that would benefit the bigger company. This also trims down the competition (think Nextel-Sprint merger). I guess the old adage, "if you can't beat them, join them", is true. In this case, its if you can't beat them, merge with them!

In addition to mergers, takeovers and aquisitions, investor's focus will also be on:
August Auto Sales figures
ISM manufacturing data (around 10 am)
August Construction Spending (at 10 am) my opinion is that Construction spending is up

In addition to these reports......
Crude Oil is at $66.14 a barrel
Wholesale Gasoline is $2.12 a gallon
Natural Gas is just shy of $14.00 per unit
Gold is trading at $467.00 per ounce