MARKET PULSE-YRC Worldwide, Caterpillar, Procter & Gamble

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Jan 27 -

** YRC WORLDWIDE INC (NasdaqGS: YRCW - news) , Friday close $18.79, +9.95 pct premarket

Workers represented by the Teamsters union at the trucking company approved a revised agreement, allowing YRC to begin refinancing more than $1 billion of its debt. The agreement aims at saving 30,000 jobs, the company said on Sunday night.

** BANK OF AMERICA Friday close $16.45, -0.49 pct premarket

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have both held investigations into whether Bank of America (TLO: BAC.TI - news) engaged in improper trading by doing its own futures trades ahead of executing large orders for clients, according to a regulatory filing.

** BOEING CO (NYSE: BA - news) , Friday close $136.65

The airplane maker said on Friday it is producing its 787 Dreamliner at the highest ever rate of 10 per month, a milestone the company had hoped to achieve by the end of 2013.

** CATERPILLAR INC (NYSE: CAT - news) , Friday close $86.17, +0.21 pct premarket

Cost cuts are expected to be in focus when the world's largest maker of heavy earth-moving equipment reports its latest earnings figures before markets open on Monday. Unless the U.S. housing market rebounds faster than expected, analysts believe Caterpillar faces a tough year as its customers in the mining industry continue to ratchet back spending.

** PROCTER & GAMBLE CO $79.18, +0.45 pct premarket

** Kimberly-Clark Corp $107.4

The companies, two of the world's biggest household products makers, forecast strong sales gains in emerging markets on Friday, quelling investor fears that slowing growth in some countries would hurt their prospects. P&G, the maker of Pampers diapers and Tide (Oslo: TIDE.OL - news) detergent, said revenue rose 8 percent in developing countries in its fiscal second quarter, but barely edged up in mature markets like the United States and Europe. It stuck to its 2014 sales and profit forecasts. Kimberly-Clark reported similar gains in emerging markets, helped by strong growth in China, and gave an upbeat 2014 forecast.

** WAL-MART STORES INC, Friday close $74.42

Wal-Mart said it cut roughly 2 percent of total employees, or about 2,300 jobs, at its Sam (Paris: FR0011660836 - news) 's Club retail warehouse chain on Friday, its biggest round of layoffs since 2010.

** AT&T (Berlin: SOBA.BE - news) $33.42, +0.99 pct premarket

The U.S. mobile operator on Monday ruled out buying Vodafone for the next six months after an enquiry by Britain's takeover panel following months of speculation.

** LIBERTY GLOBAL (NasdaqGS: LBTYA - news) , Friday close $83.27, -0.32 pct premarket

The U.S. cable group has agreed to buy Ziggo (Dusseldorf: ZGG.DU - news) in a cash-and-share deal valuing the Dutch operator at 10 billion euros ($13.7 billion) to expand its reach across Europe.

** GOOGLE INC (NasdaqGS: GOOG - news) , Friday close $1,123.83, -0.19 pct premarket

Google and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, which are frequently involved in patent infringement lawsuits but not against each other, announced on Sunday that they have reached a global patent cross-licensing agreement.

** ROYAL CARIBBEAN, Friday close $47.13, -0.02 pct premarket

More than 300 passengers and crew members fell ill aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, many with vomiting and diarrhea, the Centers for Disease Control said on Sunday.

Royal Caribbean will report results before markets open on Monday.

** TEVA PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES, Friday close $42.93, -0.07 pct premarket

An EMA committee on Friday said it had concerns about animal studies showing a higher occurrence of cancers after long-term exposure to Teva's multiple sclerosis (MS) drug laquinimod.

** AU OPTRONICS CORP, Friday close $2.91

Taiwan's AU Optronics, the world's fourth biggest LCD maker, posted on Monday its third consecutive quarterly profit that beat market expectations, boosted by robust shipments and low inventory.

** RENESOLA LTD (NYSE: SOL - news) , Friday close $3.39

The solar panel maker said it would sell 57 megawatts of panels for three solar projects in United Kingdom. The panels will be installed at projects in Cornwall, Dorset and Norfolk. The company said they began delivery in December and the projects are expected to connect to the grid in March. (Compiled by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore,)