Friday December 14, 8:13 am Eastern Time
Before the Bell: Oracle, Futures Gain
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher in pre-open trading on Friday, in line with gains in shares of Oracle Corp. (NasdaqNM:ORCL - news) after an upbeat earnings forecast by the software giant.
Oracle, the world's No. 2 software vendor, on Thursday posted fiscal second-quarter earnings that were down from a year ago but said it expects profit growth to resume in its fourth quarter ending in May.
Oracle rose to $14.89 on the Instinet electronic brokerage system from a Thursday close of $14.67.
Standard & Poor's 500 stock index futures for March were up 3 points at 1,120, while Nasdaq 100 futures for the same month were up 12 points at 1,616.50.
The corporate news was mixed. Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY - news) fell after it forecast lower 2002 earnings, confirming fears that it is losing a fight to extend its monopoly on the blockbuster diabetes drug Glucophage.
Bristol-Myers Squibb shares declined to $48.25 on Instinet from Thursday's close of $49.
Shares of Calpine Corp. (NYSE:CPN - news) slumped to $13 from Thursday's close of $16.05 after Moody's Investors Service warned on Thursday that it may downgrade Calpine debt to ``junk'' status on concern over the company's liquidity and financial flexibility.
In merger news, Amgen Inc. (NasdaqNM:AMGN - news), the world's largest biotechnology company, is in advanced negotiations to buy Immunex Corp. (NasdaqNM:IMNX - news), a leading arthritis drug maker, for about $18 billion, sources familiar with the talks said late Thursday. Amgen fell to $59.56 in pre-open trading from Thursday's close of $60.19; Immunex rose to $27.60 from $26.96 at Thursday's close.