Uninspiring Data & Uncertainty Ahead

Good morning. Premarket futures are pointing to a rough start to the 4-day post Memorial holiday trading week.

Helping provide a negative bias this morning include relatively uninspiring data. Weak markets overseas, the falling dollar, strength in oil futures, a General Motors (GM) downgrade, and disappointing guidance from Wal-Mart (WMT) which said that high gas prices are slowing consumer spending are not helping. We also have a number of M&A stories, but few are particularly exciting to investors. If that isn't enough to keep you away, we also have the announcement of a new Treasury Secretary.

Stocks trading higher in premarket trading include VICL, PEIX, ADEX, ACMR, JBLU, SIRI, MFLX, NBIX, EZM, NXG, CRDN, TIVO, and ASML. Premarket losers include LVLT, GM, WMT, TIE, PWAV, COGO, SNDK, AMD, JNPR, and INTC.

At 10:AM traders will be taking into account the latest figures on consumer confidence. Later this week we have Fed minutes and the jobs report on Friday which no doubt is adding to the nervousness this morning following last week's three-day bounce. Like many of you after a long holiday weekend, it will take some time today to get focused, play catch up, and completely focused back on the tape.

I hope the weekend holiday was a nice one for you and your family. Let's make this short week a good one.