US stocks are seen starting in the red Tuesday after a higher close on Monday as markets mull a clutch of big corporate stories and ahead of more earnings.
The Dow Jones closed yesterday up nearly 95 points and futures today are 58 points lower.
In focus in pre-market is Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOXA), which added over 4% to US$39.57 after it was reported that Comcast Corp (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was speaking to investment banks about possible financing to potentially crash the massive Disney-Fox deal.
Meanwhile, in other news, Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ:ZG) crashed over 6% to US$51.95 after hours and may well be in focus again today.
The real estate company said chief financial officer Kathleen Philips will retire on May 31, but she will stay on as chief legal officer while the company searches for a new person for the role. Zillow also posted earnings and revenue that slightly beat expectations.
In other headline news, Japan's Takeda (TKPHF) said it has finalized a deal to buy Dublin-based biotech firm Shire Plc (LON: SHP) for £46bn (US$64.3bn)
Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) shares added 1.40% to US$10.89 after hours as it revealed that chief financial officer Andrew Vollero would leave the company and Amazon.com's vice-president of finance Tim Sloan will assume the role.
Elsewhere, Dean Foods Company (NYSE:DF) saw shares add over 4.6% to US$8.73 in pre-market. The company posted a net loss of US$265,000, or flat on a per-share basis, compared to a loss of US$9.8mln, or 11 US cents a share, for the same period a year ago.