Stocks are set to open steady Monday morning, as investors brace for a busy week of economic and earnings news. About an hour before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures indicate that the Dow Jones Industrial Average might add 25 points at the open. The NASDAQ is expected to open with a modest gain as well.  

This week's busy economic calendar kicks off with reports on March construction spending and pending home sales today at 10:00 eastern time. Economists expect to see a 1.7 percent in construction spending and no change in pending sales.

The ISM services index is due out Tuesday before the nation's employment situation comes into focus Wednesday. ADP releases its private sector jobs numbers Wednesday morning. Weekly jobless claims are due out Thursday and the Labor Department's key monthly data are likely to move the markets Friday.

Also on tap this week: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks to Congress Tuesday and the results of the banking industry stress tests will be released Thursday.

With not much news to guide the action thus far, bonds are holding modest gains. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is up a few ticks and yields 3.16 percent.

The buck gained .35 to 99.45 on the yen. The euro is down .0018 to 1.325 on the dollar.  

Among the stocks to watch, General Motors (GM) is up 4.4 percent on news it might sell its European operations to Fiat.  Sprint Nextel (S) shares are steady, even after the phone company reported a quarterly loss of 21 cents per share, and 16 cents worse than analyst estimates. Tyson (TSN) said it lost 6 cents per share, which was a penny better than Street estimates.

Crude oil slipped 43 cents to $52.77 a barrel and gold gained $3.80 to $892.00 an ounce.

In the options market, trading was light Friday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded in a narrow 121-point range and finished up 44 points. The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) fell 1.20 to 35.20 and about 6.2 million calls and 5.2 million puts traded across the options exchanges.   

Nucor (NUE) traded up 74 cents to $41.43 and put volume picked up in the steelmaker Friday.  19,000 puts traded on the steelmaker, compared to 4,840 calls. The top two trades: 1868 May 37.5 and 1000 May 37.5 puts on the ISE, which are opening customer put buys, according to sentiment data. 12,278 contracts traded total, as it appeared that buyers were taking positions in the out-of-the-money puts in anticipation of weakness in NUE.

Bearish trading also surfaced in Owens Illinois (OI), American Tower (AMT), and Manitowac (MTW).    

Cameco (CCJ) saw increasing volume. Shares gained $1.67 to $24.46 and options volume rose to 3X the usual after the company reported earnings that beat expectations. The stock also seemed to benefit from an industry trade group report that suggested uranium prices might be bottoming. CCJ sells uranium through long-term contracts. The stock gained and 13,000 calls traded, compared to 2,845 puts.

Bullish trading was also seen in Peabody Energy (BTU), Electronic Arts (ERTS), and CBS (CBS).

Frederic Ruffy
WhatsTrading.com