Takeovers and takeover rumors have been running rampant on Wall Street lately. While takeovers usually have a bad connotation, the result of the rumors and official announcements have been assisting the US stock market in staying positive for the most part. The market is set up to open higher today as reports surfaced that Alcan, Inc. refused a $26.7 billion takeover bid from Alcoa, Inc. Rumor has it that Alcan, Inc. is discussing a merger with BHP Billiton, but also stated that it may make a bid for Alcoa, Inc. This news has investors thinking that bids from other companies will soon follow. Other takeovers that seem to be moving the market include Morgan Stanley’s plans to acquire Crescent Real Estate for a reported $6.5 billion. Also, discount shoe retailer Payless ShoeSource is purchasing the children’s favorite in shoes, Stride Rite for approximately $800 million. One other purchase worth noting is Amazon.com’s announcement Wednesday morning to widen their book selection by purchasing Brilliance Audio, who is an independent publisher of audio books.

While the market is set to open higher due to takeovers and acquisitions, investors are waiting to hear about the gasoline inventory report. With Memorial Day weekend ushering in the unofficial start of summer beginning late Friday afternoon as people leave work, demands for gas will be high as people are traveling to the beach and other mini-vacation destinations. The gasoline inventory report will show whether or not US refiners have produced enough gas to meet demands for this weekend and this report will surely be one to make the market move. There are no other economic reports due out today, however, Treasury Secretary Paulson is set to report on trade talks with the Chinese officials. Thursday will see the Commerce Department’s report on durable goods. In anticipation of this report, investors may go ahead and take their trading positions a day in advance.

Tuesday saw several companies post profits. Among the companies that reported include Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Cypress Biosciences Inc. These companies reported that their study involving a late-stage Alzheimer’s drug is showing extremely promising results. Their announcement forced their stock shares to go up in after hours trading. Other market movers include, The Target Corporation who reported just before the opening bell on Wednesday. Their first quarter financial reports revealed an 18 percent increase. While this is excellent news for the second largest discount retailer in the United States, it is still shy of expectations. The 18 percent increase equates to almost $651 million dollars or 75 cents a share.

Earlier this year Target reported that same-store sales for April were down 6.1 percent. Target placed the blame for the decrease in profits on an earlier Easter. However, their February and March sales prove strong enough to curb any other profit losses. Prior to the opening bell, Target’s shares soared $1.71 per share. Ross Stores also reported before the opening bell and they too had good news to share. The discount retailer of clothes and accessories reported a .43 cent increase per share of stock. This is inline with both the company’s and analyst’s expectations. Medtronic also announced a surprising profit increase last night that left it stock shares increasing by 4% this morning. Finally Gamestop as well reported prior to the opening bell and was able to beat all estimates by .02 cents per share making their total profit increase .18 cents per share. Many other retailers are also set to report on Wednesday, including Abercrombie & Fitch as well as the Limited Company. Investors should keep in mind that the markets will be closed on Monday, May 28 in observance of Memorial Day.

On May 4, the price of gas ended the week at $3.012 cents per gallon. This price is just the latest in the surge of high gas prices and in fact, it was a 2.1 cent increase from just the day before. This increase of the per gallon price occurred despite the fact that June delivery of light, sweet crude oil dropped $1.26 per barrel to end the day at $61.93. Presently, high gas prices in the United States are being attributed to several factors. The first factor includes the shut down of some domestic refineries in order for maintenance and other improvements to take place. A limited supply of gasoline imports remains the second factor. This limited supply of gasoline is due to the switching from gasoline to the diesel productions at several European refineries and refinery interruptions and other problems have led to a 12% drop in Venezuelan imports.

Investors and consumers alike are worried about the sudden increase in gas prices since summer, the peak season for gas consumption, has not even begun yet. Of course, the summer pricing depends on two things; 1) the amount of gas the refineries will produce and 2) how much consumers are truly willing to spend on gas. Unfortunately, immediately following the summer months, Americans will have to wait with baited breath to see if any hurricanes strike the Gulf coast and if so, how much damage the refineries in the Gulf area receive. There is not much leeway in the industry so if the refineries experience any disruption in the chain of supply and delivery, consumers could see higher prices that top the summer gas prices.

The increase in gas prices originally affected mainly the blue-collared workers, but now industry experts are beginning to see the gas prices affect more and more white-collared workers. As a way to save gas and therefore save money, many people have chosen to stay home more, trade in their present vehicle for a more gas-efficient model and/or find a job that has a closer commute. For those that are currently jobless, the area in which many people can look for a job has diminished.

Those looking for employment have now begun to take into account the driving distance prior to applying or taking on a job. Furthermore, some experts believe that the high price of gas will further force the jobless rate to increase. The April jobless rate which was reported to be 4.5% is up from the 5-year low of 4.4% in March. While these figures indicate that the economy is a little weak and not in trouble, experts fear the price of gas will force the cost of goods to increase, thereby leaving less money for businesses to hire aggressively. This lag in hiring new employees will cause the jobless rate to increase over the summer and experts predict that it could perhaps end the year around five percent. While this may seem like a high jobless percentage, it is still low when compared to other historical jobless rates.

Consumer advocate groups have begun to urge politicians to try and force refineries to produce more gasoline; however, the ultimate decision on gasoline prices will fall on the shoulders of consumers. Consumers will have to ultimately decide how much they want to travel and if paying the price at the pump is actually worth it.