Wake Up Call - Feb 20

Good Morning and happy new year to our Asian friends celebrating this week. At the open, major U.S. markets are modestly lower on a light news week. A handful of announced mergers are monopolizing news wires today, including a deal agreed upon by Sirius and XM Satellite Radio. However, the FCC is likely to have something to say about that.

Asia:
Hang Seng Index CLOSED; Shanghai/Shenzhen 300 CLOSED; NIKKEI 225 -0.01%; BSE SENSEX 30 -1.04%; KRX 100 +0.32%; Ho Chi Minh CLOSED

U.K. & Europe:
DJ STOXX 50 Index -0.4%; FTSE 100 -0.5%; CAC 40 -0.52%; DAX -0.34%; Russian RTS Index -0.29%

KEY HEADLINE NEWS

• WalMart reported quarterly EPS three cents ahead of estimates, before a $0.02 tax benefit. The company provided fiscal first quarter EPS guidance range of $0.68 to $0.71, generally above the $0.68 consensus compiled by Thomson Financial. WMT shares are up 2.7% in early trading.
• Home Depot reported EPS in line with estimates, while posting a same-store sales decline of 6.6%. The company will not provide financial guidance until a February 28th presentation. HD shares are down 1.7% in early trading.
• Sirius and XM Satellite Radio have agreed to merge, but the deal faces serious regulatory obstacles, including an FCC provision against the merger.
• As the USS Stennis steams into the Persian Gulf, Iran is attracting significant attention this week. A U.N. deadline written into the resolution against Iran's nuclear fuel activities, calls for Iran to cease enrichment by tomorrow, and the IAEA will report then on Iran's activity.
• This week has its share of key economic news, corporate events and important Fed appearances. See our report, "The Greek's Week Ahead" for all the details.

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Check back in later this morning, as "Today's Morning Coffee" will outline in greater detail the day's activity in overseas and commodity markets, and provide economic data & analysis and stock specific news. (disclosure)