EconomyWith continued concerns over Greece, the euro slid overnight on worries that the cash-strapped country may default on its debt and eventually exit the single currency. On Monday, Athens ordered public bodies such as state-owned companies and public pension funds to transfer their reserves to the central bank to help with cash squeezes and upcoming payments. Creditors are also starting to lose their hope that Greece will be able to present detailed plans that would satisfy eurozone finance ministers ahead of their meeting in Riga on Friday. The euro is -0.6% at $1.0678.
China will need to continue to reform its capital markets to avert "boom-bust" scenarios, the chief executive of BlackRock said at a Credit Suisse conference in Singapore. "By having a more robust capital market, it will mean we'll have less boom-bust. Right now, we are experiencing typical boom-bust. Let's hope it doesn't end poorly," said Larry Fink. Chinese shares flew up again on Tuesday, after tumbling yesterday due to pressure from the country's recent move on margin trading. Shanghai +1.8%; Hang Seng +2.8%.
"We think that an agreement between Japan and the U.S. is close," said Japan's Shinzo Abe regarding the hotly debated Trans-Pacific Partnership - the 12-nation trade deal that would stretch as far as Australia and Chile. Rice and autos are still the "major challenges," but talks are in the "final stage," Japan's chief negotiator added. According to trade group OFII, the pact would create nearly a quarter of a million American jobs due to the increased foreign investment, although others warn the deal would siphon away employment from U.S. manufacturing.
"We expect the members of OPEC to pave the ground for an increase of Iran's oil production that will reach global markets when sanctions are lifted," Iran's oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, announced in Tehran today. Once OPEC's second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, Iran hopes to boost crude exports by as much as 1M bpd if it finalizes a nuclear agreement with six major powers by June 30. In response to the Iranian crude which could come back on the market, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska plans to offer energy legislation this year that would lift the ban on U.S. oil exports, calling them "sanction against ourselves."
Stocks
Teva could make an unsolicited offer for rival Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL) as soon as today, Bloomberg reports, in what could be the drug industry's largest takeover attempt this year. Mylan has a market value of $33.3B. Teva (NYSE:TEVA) has been working with Barclays on the approach and has contacted other banks about financing a potential deal. On Friday, Mylan said it's not interested in a sale and doesn't expect a potential combination to clear antitrust hurdles. TEVA +3.9%; MYL +12% premarket.
Teva could make an unsolicited offer for rival Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL) as soon as today, Bloomberg reports, in what could be the drug industry's largest takeover attempt this year. Mylan has a market value of $33.3B. Teva (NYSE:TEVA) has been working with Barclays on the approach and has contacted other banks about financing a potential deal. On Friday, Mylan said it's not interested in a sale and doesn't expect a potential combination to clear antitrust hurdles. TEVA +3.9%; MYL +12% premarket.
Although it beat first-quarter earnings expectations, revenue for IBM (NYSE:IBM) fell 12% in Q1, marking the company's 12th straight quarter of year-over-year sales declines. Big Blue has been going through a painful transition as it continues to shed its unprofitable businesses to focus on cloud-computing initiatives. IBM also reiterated its full-year EPS guidance of $15.75-$16.50 vs. a $15.89 consensus. IBM +0.6% premarket.
With a weaker euro boosting revenue from markets including the U.S., SAP (NYSE:SAP) reported first-quarter sales that topped analysts' estimates, rising 22% to €4.5B. "Our plan is to be a growth company," CEO Bill McDermott said on a conference call. "We have no interest in announcing that we didn’t grow and then detailing the costs we cut to hold expenses in line." Excluding the boost from currency swings, operating profit and profit margins declined during the quarter, mainly due to acquisitions including Concur Technologies and Fieldglass. SAP +1.4% premarket.
According to a new filing, Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) have amended the terms of their 10-year search pact to allow either party to terminate their agreement at any point in time on or after Oct. 1. Under the original deal, which began in February 2010, Yahoo could only terminate the pact if the revenue from each search failed to meet certain financial-performance benchmarks. The two also restructured the agreement's search terms last week, stating the partnership is non-exclusive for both desktop and mobile. Yahoo reports earnings after the bell today.
David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital has taken a new long position in General Motors (NYSE:GM), nearly a year after exiting its position in the automaker. The fund believes GM's recall issues have fizzled, and expects the company to top EPS estimates this year - with buybacks and strong demand providing a tailwind.
General Electric is in early-stage talks with Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) about selling its entire $74B U.S. commercial lending and leasing portfolio as part of its plans to continue dismantling its banking business. GE is also in talks with other bidders. Wells, along with Blackstone (NYSE:BX) was the buyer of nearly $30B of real estate-related assets from GE eleven days ago.
The Bank of England penned a letter months ago to the U.S. Treasury asking why Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A, BRK.B) reinsurance operations has been left off the list of too big to fail institutions drawn up by the Basel-based Financial Stability Board. Berkshire is part of a group of reinsurers which have thus far escaped such scrutiny, even though primary insurers have argued that reinsurers are more important to the global financial system. Insurance accounted for 27% of Berkshire's net earnings in 2014.
The U.S. Department of Justice is now pushing for five banks, including JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Barclays (NYSE:BCS), Citigroup (NYSE:C), RBS (NYSE:RBS) and UBS (NYSE:UBS), to reach a joint mega settlement to allegations they manipulated the foreign exchange markets. The deal would see some institutions pay about $1B each and is scheduled for mid-May, FTreports. Last November, the banks (except Barclays) agreed to pay $4.3B to authorities in the U.S., U.K. and Switzerland in the first settlements announced in the forex investigation, although the DOJ was not included on that ticket.
Credit Suisse reports a 23% rise in net income (1.05B Swiss francs) in the first quarter from the year-ago period, beating expectations of 1.03B francs, as its investment banking operations and stellar flows into equity markets boosted profit. "We delivered another quarter of strong and consistent performance," said CEO Brady Dougan, presenting his last set of results before Prudential (NYSE:PUK) boss Tidjane Thiam takes the helm in June. Return on equity for the period was 9.9%, up from 8% in the first three months of 2014.CS -2.4% premarket.
Today's Markets:
In Asia, Japan +1.4% to 19909. Hong Kong +2.8% to 27850. China +1.8%to 4294. India -0.8% to 27676.
In Europe, at midday, London -0.1%. Paris +0.1%. Frankfurt +0.7%.
Futures at 6:20: Dow +0.4%. S&P +0.5%. Nasdaq +0.5%. Crude -0.4% to $57.68. Gold +0.3% to $1197.80.
Ten-year Treasury Yield +5 bps to 1.9%
Notable earnings before today's open: ABG, ACI, AMTD, ARMH, ATI, BHI,CLS, CP, CS, DD, DOV, EAT, EDU, FITB, GCI, GPC, HOG, ITW, JAKK, KMB,KSU, LECO, LMT, LPT, MAN, MLNX, MTG, NTRS, NVR, OMC, PCAR, PNR, RF,SAH, SAP, SBNY, SNV, TCB, TRV, TTS, UA, UTX, VZ, WIT
No comments:
Post a Comment