Futures mixed ahead of pivotal week in Europe

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stock futures were mixed on poor corporate earnings in the U.S. and ahead of a pivotal week in Europe.

Dow Jones industrial futures slipped 21 points to 13,226. The broader S&P futures gave up 1.5 points to 1,413.70. Nasdaq futures tacked on 1.25 points to 2,774.25.

Lowe's Cos., the world's second-largest home improvement retailer, missed Wall Street expectations Monday and booked charges for cutting staff. Revenue at stores open at least a year dipped 0.4 percent and the company cut its outlook for the year.

Shares of Lowe's dipped nearly 6 percent.

Just before the arrival of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in Germany, where most expect him to ask for an extension to accomplish punishing fiscal targets, the Bundesbank again questioned the wisdom of having the European Central Bank buy bonds. Those measures are taken to lower high interest yields faced by troubled European nations, freeing up cash to get their economies moving again.

Germany's central bank, however, said it saw "substantial risks" in that strategy when it released its monthly report Monday.

That is something of a split from recent sentiments expressed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who after appearing to resist some measures to ease the pressure on troubled members of the European Union, said last week that governments would do everything possible to save the euro.

World stock markets fluctuated. In early European trading, the FTSE-100 index of leading British companies edged 0.2 percent lower to 5,843.08 while Germany's DAX rose 0.4 percent at 7,066.17. France's CAC-40 gained almost 0.1 percent to 3,488.86.

On other U.S. corporate news, Aetna announced that it would acquire Coventry Health Care for $5.7 billion as the insurance industry realigns itself to better navigate the massive government health care overhaul. The deal follows the $4.46 billion buyout last month of another insurer by Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer WellPoint Inc., and last year's acquisition worth nearly $4 billion by Cigna of HealthSpring as it grabbed for a share of Medicare revenue.

Best Buy slid more than 4 percent after rejecting an offer from its founder and largest shareholder to take the electronics retailer private. The company named Hubert Joly, the former head of global hospitality company Carlson and a turnaround expert, as CEO Monday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/futures-mixed-ahead-pivotal-week-europe-130455001--business.html

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