Stock Futures Gain as Geopolitical Concerns Ease, Bidding War Ensues

Stock futures are solidly higher Monday as geopolitical concerns eased somewhat overnight and a bidding war has developed for Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE: FDO).

Today, Ukraine and Russia met in Berlin and Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that a final agreement was reached on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Luhansk. Additionally, Kurdish forces made progress in Northern Iraq with Kurdish "peshmerga" forces retaking the Mosul dam from ISIS.

Adding to the bullishness, Dollar General (NYSE: DG) made a proposal to acquire Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE: FDO) for $78.50 per share in cash, in a transaction valued at $9.7 billion. The offer tops Dollar Tree's (Nasdaq: DLTR) $74.50 per share offer for Dollar General made on July 28th.

Dow futures are up 92, Nasdaq futures are up 22 and S&P 500 futures are up 11.

Market participates are also closely watching the developments in Ferguson, Missouri, although they are putting little emphasis on the civil unrest. Overnight, protests again grew violent, and today Gov. Jay Nixon signed an executive order to call in the National Guard.

This week is the Fed's Jackson Hole meeting. On Friday, Janet Yellen will deliver a speech that markets will be closely watching.

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