Business Blog Posts

* Citigroup Inc (C.N), off 0.9 percent to $4.38 before the opening bell, is expected to report a drop in quarterly profit and revenue on Monday, as an uncertain trading environment and weak consumer loan demand hinder its efforts to move past the financial crisis. During the week of April 18, 110 S&P 500 companies are expected to report earnings.

* Halliburton Co (HAL.N), the world's No. 2 oilfield services company, advanced 2.8 percent to $48.15 in premarket trading after posting first-quarter results.

* Eli Lilly & Co (LLY.N) climbed 1.7 percent to $36.62 after the drugmaker reported better-than-expected first-quarter sales and earnings, fueled by overseas sales of its prescription medicines.

* Also due to report results on Monday is Texas Instruments (TXN.N).

* Athens repeated it has no plans to restructure its debt, denying a Greek media report it had already requested talks with its lenders as mounting speculation that it would need to cut a deal hit debt markets and the euro.

* China raised banks' required reserves for the fourth time this year on Sunday, stepping up efforts to fight high inflation in the world's second-largest economy.

* S&P 500 futures fell 9 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 74 points and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 15.25 points.

* Healthcare stocks will be in the spotlight after Swiss medical device maker Synthes (SYST.VX) confirmed it is in merger talks with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N). Reports said the U.S. company was in talks to buy it for about $20 billion. J&J shares edged up 0.7 percent to $60.97 in light premarket trade.

* NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) would likely want Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ.O) to offer a massive fee to guarantee that its takeover bid will pass antitrust regulatory muster before the NYSE is willing to engage in deal talks, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

* European shares extended losses, with a key index slipping into negative territory for the year, as growing concerns over debt troubles in the euro zone periphery prompted investors to shun risky assets. .EU

* Stocks in Asia ex-Japan remained flat, with investors unconvinced that China's latest moves to cool its economy would hurt the global recovery.

* Encouraging economic indicators sent U.S. stocks higher on Friday but the S&P 500 fell for a second straight week, and some in the market pointed to strong resistance building around 1,340.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Analysts on average expect the third-largest U.S. bank to report first-quarter profit of 9 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. That compares with a year-earlier profit of $4.4 billion, or 15 cents per share.

Citigroup is slowly climbing out of the massive hole it dug for itself in the run-up to the financial crisis. In January, the bank posted net income of $10.6 billion for 2010, its first annual profit since 2007.

In March, the bank announced a reverse-stock split, which will reduce the number of shares it has outstanding, and reinstated a nominal dividend. The government has shed all of the Citigroup common shares it acquired over the course of three rescues of the bank.

Now, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit has to prove that Citigroup can move past recovery to growth, despite broad challenges facing the banking industry's attempts to boost profits. Net revenue is expected to drop 19 percent from a year earlier, to about $20.5 billion.

Larger rivals JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) both struggled with shrinking loan books and falling revenue as they reported quarterly results last week. Both banks powered their profits largely by releasing reserves they had set aside for bad loans.

Citigroup's investment banking revenue may also be hurt by a weak trading environment. The stock market during the quarter sagged on Middle Eastern political upheaval, a Japanese earthquake and tsunami that sent the yen to record highs, and markets that were broadly unpredictable.

JPMorgan Chase's bond trading unit performed better than expected last week. But Bank of America's bond trading revenues slumped almost 35 percent from a year earlier, dampening investor hopes that other investment banks would follow JPMorgan Chase's lead.

Citigroup's shares closed down 0.23 percent at $4.42 on Friday. They have lost about 7 percent since the beginning of 2011.

The bank plans to boost its share price to about $45 -- and drastically cut the number of shares it has outstanding -- with a 1-for-10 reverse stock split scheduled for early May.

(Reporting by Maria Aspan, Editing by Bernard Orr)

* European stocks were down 0.4 percent in morning trade, led lower by banking stocks such as Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) and BBVA (BBVA.MC), on growing concern Greece could be forced to restructure its debt.

* Greek daily Eleftherotypia said on Monday Greece told the IMF and the European Union earlier this month that it wants to restructure its debt and discussions on the issue are expected to start in June. The report was later denied by a Greek finance ministry official.

* On Sunday, China raised banks' required reserves for the fourth time this year, stepping up efforts to fight high inflation.

* Earnings will be in focus on Monday, with Citigroup (C.N) expected to report a drop in quarterly profit and revenue, as an uncertain trading environment and weak consumer loan demand hinder its efforts to move past the financial crisis.

* Other companies due to report results include Halliburton (HAL.N), Eli Lilly (LLY.N) and Texas Instruments (TXN.N).

* Dutch consumer electronics group Philips (PHG.AS) is hiving off its loss-making television business as its former flagship products can no longer compete with lower-cost rivals and have dragged down profit at Europe's biggest consumer electronics firm.

* Healthcare stocks will be in the spotlight after Swiss medical device maker Synthes (SYST.VX) confirmed it is in merger talks with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) following reports the U.S. group was in talks to buy it for about $20 billion. Synthes stock gained 7 percent.

* NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) would likely want Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ.O) to offer a massive fee to guarantee that its takeover bid will pass antitrust regulatory muster, before the NYSE is willing to engage in deal talks, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by David Cowell)

A source familiar with the situation told Reuters at the weekend the two sides were in preliminary talks.

Buying Synthes would allow healthcare conglomerate J&J to further diversify its business, but a deal at $20 billion would be a premium of less than 9 percent to Synthes's market value on Friday, which some analysts said looked too low.

Shares in Synthes jumped 7 percent by 0740 GMT, after gaining 6.2 percent on Friday as talk circulated that J&J or Medtronic (MDT.N) could be looking to buy the company.

"In response to market speculation, Synthes Inc confirms that it is engaged in discussions with Johnson & Johnson about a potential business combination transaction," Synthes said in a statement.

Buying Synthes would be J&J's biggest acquisition and would help the cash-rich U.S. healthcare conglomerate further diversify its business by giving it a leading position in equipment to treat broken bones and trauma.

Synthes makes nails, screws and plates to fix broken bones as well as artificial spine discs.

CHAIRMAN IN DRIVING SEAT

Carla Baenziger, an analyst at Vontobel, said Synthes would double J&J's market share in spine work to about 30 percent, while in trauma it would be the clear market leader, with a share of around 57 percent, which could attract the attention of antitrust regulators.

Key to any deal will be Synthes Chairman Hansjoerg Wyss -- the second-richest person in Switzerland, with a net worth of $6.4 billion, according to Forbes -- who holds 40 percent of Synthes directly and another 8 percent through family trusts.

Given that big holding, an acquisition would need his buy-in, said ZKB analyst Sibylle Bischofberger, who is skeptical the deal will come off.

"We would be surprised if Hansjoerg agreed to this as he is still putting his heart and soul into Synthes. But, because he is 75 years old, he is maybe prepared to talk with Johnson & Johnson in order to find a good succession plan," she said.

CONSOLIDATION CRUNCH

The medical device sector has been consolidating as pharmaceutical companies try to find other revenue streams to compensate for drugs going off patent.

Other recent medical device deals include the $5.8 billion acquisition of Beckman Coulter by Danaher Corp (DHR.N), announced in February.

Equities were also weaker on disappointing European earnings and concerns about Japan's coming reporting season.

Gold and silver hit new record highs on inflation fears.

MSCI's all-country world stock index started what is in many places a holiday-shortened week trading down 0.3 percent.

The FTSEurofirst 300 was off half a percent and threatening to fall into the red for the year. Japan's Nikkei closed down 0.36 percent.

Finnish voters handed the anti-euro True Finns party a crucial role in parliament and possibly a path into government.

The significance is that Finland's parliament has the right to vote on European Union requests for bailout funds, meaning it could hold up costly plans to shore up Portugal and bring stability to debt markets.

Talk about Greek restructuring of its debt has also boiled up in recent weeks, including a Greek newspaper report on Monday that the government had asked the International Monetary Fund and European Union to start discussions on a restructuring. A Greek finance ministry source said the report was not true.

Equities, however, were also being hurt by an increasing concern that the current earnings season is not going to be as good as recent quarters.

"Company results haven't been that great and there are concerns that margins for a lot of companies are not going to rise. The bias for the market is more on the downside. There are a lot of risks and you may get a serious knock," said Koen De Leus, strategist at KBC Securities in Brussels.

Dutch consumer electronics major Philips Electronics posted lower-than-expected first-quarter net profit and said it would divest its struggling television business . Citigroup Inc is expected to report a drop in quarterly profit and revenue later, as an uncertain trading environment and weak consumer loan demand hinder its efforts to move past the financial crisis.

WEAKER EURO

The euro hit a 10-day low against the dollar on concerns about Greek restructuring and the Portuguese bailout.

It fell 0.8 percent to $1.4319

"The focus is turning toward the Greek situation and is acting as a dampener on the euro - it would be the first restructuring and the market has no idea when or whether it will happen," said Mic Ingenuus, currency strategist at Nordea in Copenhagen.