Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, July 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slipped on Monday, as oil turned higher after last week's sharp drop and Merck and Schering-Plough hurt the pharmaceuticals sector.The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 29.23 points, or 0.25 percent, to 11,467.34. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> dipped 0.68 of a point, or 0.05 percent, to 1,260. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> slipped 3.25 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,279.53.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, July 21 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures settled higher on Monday,ending a four-day losing streak as Tropical Storm Dolly was forecast to hit a key refinery area in Texas and as worries persisted over Iran's standoff with world powers over its nuclear program.August crude settled $2.16, or 1.68 percent, higher at $131.04 a barrel.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - Down 17 to 60-1/2 cents per bushel, with August down 60-1/2 at $14.09-1/2 per bushel.Good crop weather in U.S. Midwest weighs in addition to pressure from news late last week that Argentina was scrapping a tax hike on exports of soy, Argentine ag secretary to be replaced.

SOYOIL - Down 1.90 to 2.27 cents per lb, with August down 2.18 at 59.91 cents per lb.Pressured by drop in soybeans and lower Asian trade for soyoil and palm oil. Losses limited by gains in crude oil.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures dived 5.7 percent on Monday to a near four-month low as crude oil's steepest ever one week slide last week battered vegetable oil markets from the United States to China.

Argentina's move to repeal a controversial export tax on soy also weighed on Malaysian palm futures. Chicago Board of Trade soyoil also fell.

The benchmark October palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell as much as 195 ringgit to 3,197 ringgit ($985.8), a level unseen since April 2. At the close, it was down 132 ringgit to 3,260 ringgit.

Regional equities-July 21 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stocks were generally higher on Monday, with gains in financials such as DBS Group pushing Singapore to a one-week high and the recent drop in oil prices bolstering Thai and Indonesian big-caps.

Singapore's main index <.FTSTI> climbed 2.5 percent to a one-week high of 2,919.2. The main Thai index <.SETI> gained 3.4 percent to 687.3, near a one-week high, and Indonesian stocks
<.JKSE> were 2.5 percent higher.Malaysian stocks <.KLSE> erased their early gains, ending 0.14 percent down at a 16-month low because of political uncertainties. Vietnam <.VNI> fell 2.5 percent but the Philippines' benchmark index <.PSI> ended 1.13 percent higher.