Market Snapshot
Asia: Japan -0.1% to 20461. Hong Kong -1.1% to 27260. China +1.5% to 5023. India -0.2% to 26768.
Europe: London -0.9%. Paris -1.7%. Frankfurt -1.4%.
Futures: Dow -0.3%. S&P -0.3%. Nasdaq -0.3%. Crude -0.6% to $57.68. Gold flat at $1175.60.
Ten-year Treasury Yield +3 bps to 2.34%
Economic News
8:30 Non-farm payrolls
Key earnings before the open
IXYS, LITB, YGE
Markets
Stock futures are lower ahead of important jobs data, while Greece-fueled losses intensified for Europe equities. Nonfarm payrolls, the unemployment rate and average hourly earnings for May are all due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Economists expect job gains of 210,000, an unemployment rate unchanged at 5.4% and a 0.2% rise in earnings. A strong jobs number would support speculation that the Fed will proceed with the first interest-rate hike before the end of the year.
Global shares are mostly in the red after Greece delayed a key debt payment to the IMF that fell due on Friday. The move marks the first time the country has postponed a repayment on its €240B bailout from the troika. Athens still intends to repay the debt, stating it will bundle the four payments due this month into a single €1.65B lump sum to be paid on June 30. A cash-for-reforms deal between Greece and its creditors still looks murky, with the two sides sparring over topics ranging from state pensions to value-added tax.
OPEC is poised to leave its current production ceiling of 30M bpd unchanged at its meeting in Vienna today, renewing its support for the shock treatment it doled out late last year, keeping the market oversupplied. With oil prices having rebounded by more than a third after hitting a six-year low of $45/bbl in January, OPEC officials see little reason to tinker with a strategy that seems to have resurrected oil consumption and put a damper on the U.S. shale boom.
There is no evidence that fracking has had a “widespread, systemic impact on drinking water,” according to the EPA’s five-year analysis of U.S. water pollution risks. While there have been some cases involving spills and leaking wells, the spread of fracking did not cause extensive damage to groundwater resources, the agency added. The report follows the recent fracking bans in New York and Maryland.
Shanghai’s stock market surged through the 5,000 level for the first time in over seven years today, capping nearly two weeks of wild trading and resuming a rally that has made China one of the best global performers in 2015. “The volatility may not be over yet,” said Li Lei, an analyst at China Minzu Securities. “We are seeing a reallocation of capital in the market now, which drives the index to grow much faster.” According to database Wind Info, nearly 44% of 1,049 stocks in Shanghai have more than doubled this year.
Stocks
The SEC has charged a Bulgarian man, Nedko Nedev, for manipulating the stock prices of Avon Products (AVP) and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (RMCF) by using the Edgar database to submit fraudulent takeover offers. Avon’s bid, which appeared on Edgar weeks ago, shot the stock up 20% before the company issued a statement saying it thought the offer was a hoax. The false bids also raise concerns about the integrity of Edgar, which more than 300K companies use to electronically submit regulatory filings.
The disclosure by U.S. officials that Chinese hackers stole records of as many as 4M government workers is now being linked to the thefts of personal information from healthcare companies. Forensic evidence indicates that the group of hackers responsible for the recent government breach likely carried out the February attacks on health-insurance providers Anthem (ANTM) and Premera Blue Cross.
General Electric (GE) has assembled an “exploratory team” to look at moving its headquarters out of Connecticut after lawmakers passed a budget raising taxes by $1.2B. Aetna (AET), which now faces a similar predicament, is also weighing whether to relocate its headquarters out of the state.
Nike and some other international sponsors are feeling the heat over their powerful role in Brazilian soccer as a former star turned senator, Romario, vows to expose suspect marketing contracts and their links to corrupt payments. Coming amid the U.S. graft charges that have shaken the soccer world, the congressional probe will focus on a sponsorship deal Nike (NKE) signed with Brazil’s soccer federation in 1996 and other alleged kickbacks.
The SEC is investigating whether some activist investors teamed up to target companies without disclosing their alliances, potentially in violation of federal securities rules. The commission’s enforcement division recently opened multiple probes and sent requests for information to a number of hedge funds, which have not yet been disclosed, WSJ reports. The issue comes as activist hedge funds continue to become a major force in corporate America.
Financial software maker SunGard has filed to go public and is exploring an outright sale to Fidelity National Information Services, among the companies that have shown interest. SunGard was acquired for $11.4B in 2005 by several firms, including Silver Lake Partners and TPG Capital, and has been one of the longest-held investments in private equity history. The IPO could value the company at up to $10B, including debt.
Vodafone (VOD) has confirmed it has held talks with Liberty Global (LBTYA) to exchange some of their businesses in Europe, but said it was “not in discussions concerning a combination of the two companies.” Liberty broke cover on its interest in exploring a potential merger two weeks ago after chairman John Malone pointed to “substantial synergies” should it merge with Vodafone. VOD -1.5% premarket.
Yahoo is shutting down a few of its services, including its Yahoo Maps site, as it realigns itself to focus on search and digital content. Yahoo Pipes is on schedule to go into read-only mode (no Pipes creation) on August 30, and API GeoPlanet and PlaceSpotter will meet their demise. Yahoo (YHOO) also highlighted it will no longer support older versions of Apple’s iPhone operating system and several regional media sites.
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