Market Snapshot
Asia: Japan -0.3% to 20046. Hong Kong -1.1% to 26687. China -0.2% to 5106. India +1.4% to 26841.
Europe: London +0.3%. Paris +0.6%. Frankfurt +1%.
Futures: Dow +0.4%. S&P +0.4%. Nasdaq +0.4%. Crude +2.1% to $61.38. Gold +0.9% to $1188.
Ten-year Treasury Yield +6 bps to 2.48%
Economic News
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
10:00 Quarterly Services Report
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
Key earnings before the open
FRAN
Key earnings after the close
BV, BOX, DDC, KKD, MW
Markets
U.S. markets appear set for a positive open today, with futures inching higher on the back of a weaker dollar and with investors looking ahead to key data later in the week (the closely watched monthly report on retail sales is due out on Thursday, as well as a reading on consumer sentiment on Friday). The projected gains come after a choppy session yesterday that saw the main indexes finish nearly flat. Notably however, the S&P 500 index managed to pull out a marginal gain that saw helped to snap a three-day losing streak.
The yield on 10-year German government bunds broke above 1% overnight for the first time since September 2014 amid a broader global bond sell-off that’s been deepening since late April. The renewed ascent for German yields started last week when ECB President Mario Draghi said investors should get used to periods of higher bond market volatility and stated the central bank wouldn’t do anything about it. U.S. 10-year yield +6 bps to 2.48%.
Greek PM Alexis Tsipras is scheduled to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in Brussels today to try and make some progress on debt talks. The move follows yesterday’s warning from the Greek leader, who cautioned of the costs to EU taxpayers if his country left the eurozone. In an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera, Tsipras said a so-called “Grexit” would likely be followed by Spain and Italy, precipitating the collapse of the currency bloc.
Stocks in China have recovered from earlier losses in the session stemming from a decision by MSCI not to add A-shares to its widely tracked emerging markets index. The Shanghai Composite ended almost flat after falling as much as 2.2%. Despite a recent acceleration of its reforms agenda, MSCI said investors wanted China to go further in removing barriers that make it difficult for foreigners to invest in the country, but it aims to add the yuan-denominated equities at “some point.” Some institutional investors believe that’s likely to occur within 12 months.
The yen is headed for its biggest gain against the dollar this year after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said it’s hard to see the currency’s real effective rate falling further. According to BOJ data, the real effective exchange rate, which adjusts for inflation and trade with other nations, shows the yen near its weakest level since early 1973. Currency traders reacted immediately to Kuroda’s remarks, shooting the yen up 1.4% to 122.69 per dollar. The currency reached a 13-year low of 125.86 on June 5.
Stocks
The attorneys general of New York and Connecticut are investigating whether the deals struck by Apple (AAPL) for its new music service violated antitrust rules. The joint investigation will probe whether Apple pressured music labels – or whether the labels conspired with Apple and one another – to withdraw support for popular “freemium” services like Spotify in favor of its new paid streaming music service. Eric Schneiderman and Connecticut’s George Jepsen were also among a group of attorneys general who in 2013 sued Apple for conspiring to raise the prices of e-books. Apple agreed to pay $450M as part of that settlement.
Bayer (BAYRY) has agreed to sell its Diabetes Care business to Panasonic Healthcare, a joint venture backed by buyout firm KKR, for €1B. The unit makes blood-glucose monitoring systems and lancing devices. Besides the diabetes sale, Bayer intends to list its plastics unit on the stock market, as it looks to focus on more lucrative life-sciences businesses.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD) is forecast to report first-quarter earnings of 22 cents a share, according to a consensus survey. The doughnut chain earned 23 cents a share a year ago.
Paving the road for a future stock split, Netflix (NFLX) shareholders have approved a massive increase in the number of shares the company is allowed to issue, raising the authorization by nearly 30x to $5B. A split will be pursued in “due course,” stated CEO Reed Hastings during the company’s annual meeting.
San Francisco is one step closer to becoming the first U.S. city to require warning labels on sugary drinks after government officials approved a new measure to this effect. Other ordinances would prohibit ads for sugary drinks on city-owned property, like parks and bus shelters, and ban city departments from purchasing sugar drinks with city funds. Health advocates say they will also make a second run at passing a sugar tax.
Target has confirmed it will double its share buyback program to $10B and boost its quarterly dividend by 7.7%, after denying the contents of a statement it published inadvertently and took off its website earlier on Tuesday. It seems that Target (TGT) mistakenly published the press release before its board officially approved it.
Tesla’s (TSLA) Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja is retiring, Chief Executive Elon Musk announced at the electric-car maker’s shareholder meeting. Musk also stated that Model X SUV deliveries will begin in 3-4 months, and that Model S auto-pilot features could be released to customers through a software beta by late June. With regards to the features, Musk said he’s personally testing them “every week.”
A Pennsylvania judge has recommended Kirkland & Ellis be prevented from advising Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA) on its attempted takeover of Mylan (MYL) after the law firm represented Mylan on other matters. The report is likely to shake up a bitter, three-way takeover battle. Mylan has rejected Teva’s bid in unusually harsh terms, and is instead plowing ahead with its own, twice-rejected offer for Perrigo (PRGO).
After receiving several offers, United Technologies’ (UTX) board of directors is scheduled to meet later this week to review the options for its $8B Sikorsky aircraft business. UTC is considering two tax-efficient transactions for Sikorsky: a spin-off or combination with peer Textron (TXT). Alternatively, Sikorsky may be sold outright to another company. Lockheed Martin (LMT), Boeing (BA) and Airbus (EADSY) have all expressed interest.