Wall Street set to advance amid flurry of M&A activity

Markets in New York are expected to kick off higher on Monday as a flurry of M&A activity bolstered the main indices on Wall Street. The spread-betters are anticipating the Dow Jones Industrial Average will add 225 points at the open to 27,866, while the S&P 500 is expected to start up 36 points at 3,373 and the Nasdaq to rise 143 points to 11,219. Graphics card maker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is set to be one of the leaders on the back of its agreed Arm deal, while Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) may be lower following its loss in the war over TikTok’s US operations. But while this latest raft of M&A activity may have excited investors, it’s not the same as the frenzy as seen in previous months, says market analyst Craig Erlam at Oanda. “That’s not to say these things aren't important - and the TikTok deal most certainly is given the geopolitical ramifications - but the focus is just elsewhere at the minute. “There are a number of major central bank meetings this week - including the Fed, BoJ and BoE - and the tech sell-off will likely continue to dominate. Early gains in Nasdaq futures are already being pared which could be problematic ahead of the open.” Five things to watch for on Monday: US consumer inflation expectations for the month of August following July’s increase to 2.9% from 2.68% in June Share price reaction from graphics process maker Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) following its US$40bn deal with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank to purchase UK computer chip maker ARM Holdings plc Software firm Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) will also be eyed for any market reaction after it seemed to be in a prime position to take over the US operations of Chinese video-sharing app TikTok after its owner ByteDance turned down an offer from Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) could be in line for a boost following an interview with its CEO Albert Bourla over the weekend in which he said the firm should be able to confirm by the end of October if its coronavirus vaccine candidate works correctly The pharma sector also has its own M&A news, with weekend reports that Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) will acquire Immunomedics Inc (NASDAQ:IMMU) likely to cause a reaction in the shares