By James Langton

(February 12 – 09:00 ET) – Stocks look set to open slightly down this morning, after data storage firm Emulex warned of slower revenue growth this year.

That’s the latest news knocking the market a little, but there’s really not much direction yet this morning and there’s no major economic news out either.

In Europe, stocks are mostly up with bargain hunters pecking away at beaten up telecoms such as Alcatel SA, Marconi plc and Vodafone Group plc. In London, the FTSE is up 48 points to 6,212. In, Paris, the CAC 40 has gained 21 points to 5,734. The German DAX is up 34 points to 6,531.

There’s no shortage of M&A news. Today’s deluge recalls Merger Mondays of years past. First off, oil services firm Schlumberger Ltd. is buying Sema plc for US$5.3 billion, to add more computer consulting capability.

Potomac Electric Power Co. is buying Conectiv, a power and telecom company, for about US$4.2 billion in cash, stock, and assumed debt.

Compass Group plc is buying the 67% of Switzerland’s Selecta AG that it doesn’t already own for US$546 million in cash.

Berkley Petroleum Corp. reports that it has found a white knight in Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Anadarko will offer $11.40 in cash for each Berkley common share, trumping Hunt Oil Corp.’s offer. Berkley’s board is unanimously recommending the Anadarko offer, and directors and officers of Berkley have agreed to tender their shares to Anadarko.

Finally, in an all-Canadian deal, Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. and Salter Street Films Limited have entered into a definitive agreement that will see Alliance Atlantis acquire Salter Street. Shareholders may elect to receive either $3.33 in cash and 0.310 Class B Non-Voting Shares of Alliance Atlantis for each share of Salter, or about $9.22 a share. The transaction is expected to close within 90 days.

Overnight in Asia, the markets were closed in Japan. In Hong Kong stocks slid, with Hang Seng finishing down 180 points to 15,693.

In other business news, DRAXIS Health Inc. announced today that for 2001 it expects consolidated revenues to grow by 15% 20% this year, and to report positive net income from continuing operations.

Although there were no big economic releases, Statistics Canada is reporting the New Housing Price Index climbed reported up 2.4% for December 2000, compared with the same month of 1999. The index was 104.4 in December, up from 102.0 in December 1999.