Welcome to the beginning of the week ladies and gents, and let me be the first to say Play Ball! Today is basically a holiday in Cincinnati, as the Opening Day parade will welcome the Redlegs back to the baseball field. There is a good deal of news welcoming traders back to the week, so let's get on with a look

• Schering-Plough (SGP) and Merck (MRK) have both dropped in pre-market trading thanks to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
• Citigroup announced that it reorganized its consumer group into 2 global businesses.
• Lehman Brothers (LEH) is suing a Japanese trading company that allegedly used forged documents and an imposter to raise cash.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Northwest Airlines (NWA) has tried to salvage its merger deal with Delta (DAL).
• Thornburg Mortgage (TMA) has received another extension to raise $948 million in new capital.

A lot of interesting news looking to push the market; however, it is clear to me that the biggest news of the day comes courtesy of Oslo, Norway. Apparently, a thief decided to take a souvenir home from a visit to an aquarium. The thief snagged himself (or herself) a 2.3-foot long smooth-fronted caiman named Taggen (which means Spike). The director of the Bergen aquarium posited that Spike was smuggled out in a bag during the busiest hours on Saturday. Spike could get as big as 8.2 feet, and has a "solid bite." In fact, the aquarium director noted that Spike could eat a "few fingers, but no vital organs." Well, that is comforting.