MARKET PULSE-Caterpillar, Cisco, Canadian Solar, Nordic American

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Jan 27 - U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Monday, setting Wall Street up for a modest rebound after its worst week since June 2012 with investors focused on corporate earnings from big names like Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT - news) and Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) . S&P 500 e-mini futures rose 9.1 points and were above 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 rose 60 points and Nasdaq 100 futures added 10.75 points.

** CISCO SYSTEMS INC (NasdaqGS: CSCO - news) , Friday close $22.2, -2.34 pct premarket

JPMorgan cut its rating on Cisco's stock to "underweight" from "neutral," citing weakness in emerging markets service providers and delayed spending in the switching market driven by software-defined networking. The brokerage cut its price target on the stock to $17 from $21.

** CATERPILLAR INC, Friday close $86.17, +6.59 pct premarket

Caterpillar posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday as the world's largest mining and construction equipment aggressively cut costs to offset continued sluggish sales of its earth-moving equipment.

** AT&T Friday close $33.42, +0.57 pct premarket

** VODAFONE GROUP PLC, Friday close $1.5-100.00 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.

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** BOEING CO (NYSE: BA - news) , Friday close $136.65, +0.32 pct premarket

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.

** PROCTER & GAMBLE CO Friday close $79.18, +0.36 pct premarket

** KIMBERLY-CLARK CORP Friday close $107.4+0.00 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, -0.52 pct premarket

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.

** YRC WORLDWIDE INC (NasdaqGS: YRCW - news) , Friday close $18.79, +11.76 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.

** LIBERTY GLOBAL (NasdaqGS: LBTYA - news) , Friday close $83.27, -1.10 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, +0.31 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, +1.11 pct

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, +0.12 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.

** NORDIC AMERICAN TANKERS LTD, Friday close $11.07, -0.54 pct premarket

The tanker company raised its quarterly dividend by about 56 percent to 25 cents per share and said it would pay the amount in cash and stock. The company will pay a cash dividend of 12 cents per share and the rest in shares of Nordic American Offshore Ltd.

** 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.

** CANADIAN SOLAR INC (NasdaqGS: CSIQ - news) , Friday close $37.25, -2.71 pct premarket

The solar company said it would sell a 10-megawatt solar power plant in Ontario to a fund managed by BlackRock Inc (NYSE: BLK - news) . The company said the construction of the plant is underway and operations are expected to begin in the second quarter this year. (Compiled by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore,)