Morning Spy: The Return of Merger Mondays (TBL, VFC, LDK, HEV, NCTY, NOK, MSFT, SNE, TGT, CAT, NFG, TRH)

Markets appear to be bouncing back on Monday following a market sell-off on Friday. After falling four of five sessions last week the markets might be trying to get off on the right foot to start this week. The markets did get some positive news this morning after a major clothing manufacturer announced it will be bought out.

Today’s Top tickerspy Indexes:

Footwear Stocks (up 5.8% today, see graph): The Index got a surprise this morning after Timberland (TBL) announced it will be bought out by VF Corporation. The Clothing Stocks Index is also trading higher, as investors have bid up shares of VF (VFC) as well.

Chinese Solar Stocks ( up 4.4%, see graph): The Index is getting the bounce from LDK Solar Company (LDK) after it said it has entered into an agreement with KDC Solar to serve as it’s preferred provider of EPC and operations maintenance services for a significant portion of KDC Solar’s portfolio of solar energy facility projects in New Jersey and New York.

Fuel Cell Stocks (up 2.2%, see graph): With shares of Ener1 (HEV) leading the way the Index is performing very well as a whole, not one stock is in the red thus far through trading.

Video Game Stocks (up 1.9%, see graph): The9 Limited (NCTY) is now up double digits after the company announced it will purchase back up to $25 million of its American ADRs over the next 12 months.

Today’s Top Market Headlines

Apple Will Be Thrashed By Microsoft In Four Years: All Nokia (NOK) has to do is hang on for a few years and it will have a huge share of the smartphone market due to its partnership with Microsoft (MSFT).

Berkowitz Leads Top Stock Pickers Hitting Bottom as Growth Slows: Funds run by Berkowitz of Fairholme Capital Management LLC, Heebner of Capital Growth Management LP and Miller of Legg Mason are the three worst performers among large diversified U.S. mutual funds in 2011, according to data from Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. The funds lost 11 percent to 12 percent through June 9, compared with a gain of 3.4 percent for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Worst Drought in More Than a Century Threatens Texas Oil, Natural Gas Boom: The worst Texas drought since record-keeping began 116 years ago may crimp an oil and natural- gas drilling boom as government officials ration water supplies crucial to energy exploration.

Media Decoder: Sony Invites People to Go Smurfing: In advance of the premiere of “The Smurfs,” Sony (SNE) is promoting a Global Smurfs Day in June, for which people will paint themselves in blue and dress as Smurfs.

Six Dividend Stocks Providing Increasing Returns of Shareholders: Several consistent dividend growth stocks announced increased distributions to shareholders, like clockwork. These increased distributions would surely increase the return on investment, particularly at a time when stock prices have been in a decline for six consecutive weeks. Some of the top companies that made the list are Target (TGT), Caterpillar (CAT), and National Fuel Gas (NFG).

U.S. Stock-Index Futures Little Changed; Transatlantic Gains, Bemis Drops: U.S. stock futures rose, indicating the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will rebound after six weeks of losses, as mergers and acquisitions overshadowed concern the economy is slowing. Transatlantic Holdings (TRH), the reinsurer formerly owned by American International Group Inc., surged 16 percent after agreeing to merge with Switzerland’s Allied World Assurance Company Holdings AG.

Tags: CAT, HEV, LDK, MSFT, NCTY, NFG, NOK, SNE, TBL, TGT, TRH, VFC