Market Snapshot
Asia: Japan -0.5% to 20771. Hong Kong -1% to 27146. China -3.4% to 4529. India +0.6% to 27896.
Europe: London +0.2%. Paris +0.5%. Frankfurt +0.8%.
Futures: Dow +0.4%. S&P +0.4%. Nasdaq +0.3%. Crude -0.3% to $60.11. Gold +0.1% to $1173.50.
Ten-year Treasury Yield +2 bps to 2.39%
Economic News
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Personal Income and Outlays
8:30 Consumer spending
8:30 Core inflation
Key earnings before the open
ACN, BKS, CMC, LNN, MEI, SJR, WGO
Key earnings after the close
MU, NKE, SNX
Markets
U.S. stocks were poised for a higher open Thursday, with the Dow industrials on track to rebound from their largest one-day loss in nearly a month. Investors continue to focus on developments in Greece’s bailout talks. This morning, Eurozone finance ministers were checking documents laying out a possible financing deal. Without a deal, Greece is set to default on a June 30 payment to the International Monetary Fund .
British Prime Minister David Cameron is getting ready to talk over the U.K.’s relationship with the EU at the summit, his first official opportunity to jointly discuss his objectives since he was re-elected last month. Cameron, who says he wants to stay in a reformed EU but would not be heartbroken to leave, is trying to win a new settlement before holding a referendum on membership by the end of 2017.
After a six-week congressional battle including two brushes with failure, some fancy legislative footwork and myriad backroom deals, the Senate has voted 60-38 to grant President Obama “fast-track” authority to negotiate trade deals and speed them through Congress. The bill will now go to the president’s desk – the next step in propelling the Trans-Pacific Partnership over the finish line.
As its economy gets hammered by the MERS virus, South Korea is planning a stimulus package of more than 15T won ($13.5B) to cushion the economic impact of the deadly respiratory disease. The country’s finance ministry also cut its outlook for economic growth this year to 3.1% and slashed its inflation projection to 0.7%. The virus, first reported in the nation on May 20, has infected 180 people and killed 29.
Stocks
As widely expected, Boeing (BA) is slowing production of its 747-8 jumbo jet by 23% to one per month starting in March, in response to weakness in the cargo market. The future of the 747 is viewed by analysts as just one of the key early challenges for incoming CEO Dennis Muilenburg. Other upcoming decisions: A $10B takeover of Sikorsky Aircraft? Are there benefits to a 757 successor? Pare output of the 777 ahead of the upcoming 777X? And financial impacts should the Export-Import Bank close on June 30.
Amid a big push into the video space, Facebook (FB) is streaming the first episodes of two new HBO (TWX) comedy series for the first time. The episodes of “Ballers” and “The Brink” will be hosted on the social network for a limited time, following their June 21 debuts on TV. According to Ampere Analysis, Facebook is expected to exceed two trillion video views this year – that’s two thirds of YouTube’s (GOOG, GOOGL) projected figure for the same period.
Despite calls for consolidation in the auto industry, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU) CEO Sergio Marchionne said his company is a long way from lobbying General Motors (GM) to the negotiating table. The company’s previous merger proposal to GM Chief Executive Mary Barra was rebuffed. Asked if he would consider an option of going hostile on the automaker, Marchionne said only that those players who kept wasting capital were acting in that manner.
Ford is not the only one jumping into the car-sharing market. General Motors (GM) and BMW (BAMXY) have now announced Airbnb-style schemes, which will allow car owners to earn money by renting out their new vehicles to other drivers. “Society and the automotive industry are undergoing radical change,” BMW board member Peter Schwarzenbauer said. Like Ford (NYSE:F), the two companies’ program will launch in the U.S. and U.K.
JPMorgan is in talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a probe into whether the bank inappropriately steered its private-banking clients toward its own investment products. JPMorgan (JPM) said in a regulatory filing last month that other government authorities have also sought information about the bank’s use of proprietary products in its wealth-management business. A settlement including a fine could happen as early as this summer.
Molycorp has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection along with its North American subsidiaries to restructure $1.7B of debt in its U.S. and Canadian operations. The company has also obtained agreement for up to $225M in new debtor-in-possession financing. The plan marks a dramatic turn for Molycorp (MCP), which rode temporary concerns of a shortage in rare earths elements to a $6B market capitalization in 2011, but has since then faced an oversupplied market.
Netflix headlines are still in the news after Carl Icahn said he sold off his remaining position in the company. Icahn was a buyer of the streaming juggernaut at a sub-$60 level in 2012 and has sold pieces off along the way. On Monday, Netflix (NFLX) announced a 7-for-1 split, which will commence on July 15.
Petrobras is heading into a Manhattan courtroom today to ask a judge to throw out investor lawsuits triggered by its massive bribery scandal. The investors claim the kick-back scheme knocked tens of billions of dollars off Petrobras’ (PBR) market value, but the state-owned energy giant says it was victimized by renegade employees and rogue politicians.
More gloom and doom clouds circled Takata (TKTDY) today after Chief Executive Shigehisa Takada said an internal probe into why the company’s air bag inflators were failing was not progressing well. Despite multiple investigations, the root cause of why the inflators explode with too much force has still not been identified. Toyota (NYSE:TM) and Nissan (NSANY) reacted quickly to the news, expanding their global recalls to another three million vehicles almost immediately following the announcement.
Just six months after investors placed a $5B valuation on WeWork Companies, the New York-based provider of shared office space has reached the $10B mark. WeWork’s main business is renting office space from landlords, then building it out into an incubator-like space with small offices and hip common areas meant to promote interaction. Among the billion dollar startup club, WeWork is now in the bracket of Airbnb, Pinterest and Dropbox.