EconomyU.S. equity-index futures dropped with the dollar on Thursday, the last trading day of the week for many markets before the Easter holiday season. Despite many investors sitting on the sidelines prior to the weekend, markets are preparing for the monthly U.S. jobs report for clues on monetary policy. The figures will follow yesterday's weaker-than-estimated data on hiring and manufacturing, which fueled speculation that the U.S. economy is slowing and bolstered the case for keeping interest-rates lower for longer.
Looking to end its standoff with creditors, Athens has handed the eurozone and IMF a more detailed plan for revising its bailout program. The list is still a "very long way from being a basis (for a deal)," a eurozone official said. "They should negotiate in competence and good faith with the institutions first, and then we will see." Yesterday, the ECB raised its cap on emergency liquidity assistance that Greek banks can draw from the country's central bank by €700M, increasing the ELA ceiling to €71.8B. The central bank has been raising the cap in increments to keep pressure on Greece to strike a deal.
Oil futures are again edging lower, retreating from big gains the previous session, at the prospect that a nuclear deal with Iran could increase the country's exports and pressure crude prices. Tehran's nuclear program will now be discussed by major powers and Iran for a second day past an end-March deadline. Crude futures -1.1% to $49.56/bbl.
Bringing the new Internet rules closer to reality, the FCC has sent its net neutrality regulations to the Federal Register, the nation’s official record of government actions. Industry trade groups representing telecom and cable companies are widely expected to challenge the new rules once they are formally published (which could take days or longer).
Stocks
McDonald's is planning to boost benefits and raise U.S. restaurant workers' pay by more than 10% amid frequent fast-food and retail worker protests calling for higher wages and better working conditions. McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) has set July 1 as a target date to give 90,000 workers at company-owned stores a raise to an average of $9.90 per hour with the average wage expected to top $10 by the end of 2016. Subsidies for some education costs will also be available.
McDonald's is planning to boost benefits and raise U.S. restaurant workers' pay by more than 10% amid frequent fast-food and retail worker protests calling for higher wages and better working conditions. McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) has set July 1 as a target date to give 90,000 workers at company-owned stores a raise to an average of $9.90 per hour with the average wage expected to top $10 by the end of 2016. Subsidies for some education costs will also be available.
Salesforce has disclosed that CEO Marc Benioff's 2014 bonus rose 67% from a year ago, to $2.82M, based on his "achievement of specific corporate performance goals as well as individual performance." Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) also described an unusual arrangement for its former Chief Financial Officer to stay on past his planned retirement. While the job description is vague, Graham Smith will stay with the firm as an adviser, earning the same salary, target bonus, stock-award vesting and perks he received as CFO.
Morgan Stanley gave James Gorman the biggest raise yet among Wall Street CEOs last year, hiking his pay 25% to $22.5M. Gorman collected an annual salary of $1.5M, a cash and stock bonus of $14.5M and longer-term incentive pay valued at up to $6.5M, capping his most lucrative year in his five at the helm of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS).
Putting an exact date to its Canadian exit, Target (NYSE:TGT) says it will close the last of its 133 retail stores in the country on April 12. The chain said it would leave in January after struggling since its March 2013 launch, resulting in 17,000 employees losing their jobs and triggering a $5.1B quarterly charge. Target Canada's three distribution centers and Mississauga headquarters have already been closed.
Less than a week after agreeing to sell itself to Heinz in a blockbuster deal, Kraft Foods (NASDAQ:KRFT) has found itself the target of a government lawsuit over wheat prices. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has accused Kraft and Mondelez (NASDAQ:MDLZ) of making massive bets in Chicago's futures markets in late 2011 as part of a plot to drive down the physical price for wheat.
Europe's competition regulator is preparing the groundwork to file charges against Google (GOOG, GOOGL) in the next few weeks, looking to conclude the five-year-old antitrust investigation of the Internet-search giant. The move would kick off the EU's highest-profile antitrust suit since its lengthy campaign that started a decade ago against Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which paid the bloc €1.7B in fines through 2012. To complete the probe, the European Commission is now asking companies that filed complaints against Google for permission to publish some of the information they submitted confidentially.
Beating analyst estimates, Micron (NASDAQ:MU) reported a $934M profit in FQ2, up from $731M, a year earlier. The company is widely known as the last U.S. maker of dynamic random access memory, a key component in personal computers. In 2013, it became the second-largest DRAM producer in the world after Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF). Despite the earnings beat, Micron gave light guidance for its next quarter, expecting FQ3 revenue of $3.8B-$4.05B, below a $4.29B consensus. MU -1.6% premarket.
JPMorgan Chase is on track to meet its mandate to provide billions of dollars in consumer relief to struggling homeowners as part of a settlement it reached over shoddy mortgage bonds it sold before the financial crisis. Joseph Smith, the monitor overseeing the settlement, has so far credited Chase (NYSE:JPM) with $2.2B out of the $4B it is required to provide to consumers by 2017. Chase must also pay $9B in cash, totaling a $13B settlement.
HSBC is making progress toward cleaning up its operations, after reaching a $1.92B settlement of charges related to money laundering, but has not done enough, announced the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday. The government made its criticisms after reviewing the findings of an independent monitor, Michael Cherkasky, who was appointed in connection with HSBC's (NYSE:HSBC) 2012 deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. authorities.
Already facing pressure from the airline over a cost-cutting drive he had been implementing, Lufthansa (OTCQX:DLAKY) Chief Executive Carsten Spohr, on the job less than a year, may now face a make-it-or-break-it moment. Lufthansa pilots have initiated 15 strikes against the carrier since last April, and Spohr now faces questions about what his company knew, and when, about Andreas Lubitz's medical condition. The airline's shares have sunk almost 8% since the crash in the French Alps on March 24.
Today's Markets:
In Asia, Japan +1.5% to 19313. Hong Kong +0.8% to 25276. China +0.4%to 3827. India +1.1% to 28260.
In Europe, at midday, London +0.1%. Paris flat. Frankfurt -0.1%.
Futures at 6:20: Dow -0.3%. S&P -0.4%. Nasdaq -0.5%. Crude -1.1% to $49.56. Gold -0.2% to $1205.30.
Ten-year Treasury Yield -7 bps to 1.87%
Today's economic calendar:
7:30 Challenger Job-Cut Report
8:30 Janet Yellen
8:30 International Trade
8:30 Gallup US Payroll to Population
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Factory Orders
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
7:30 Challenger Job-Cut Report
8:30 Janet Yellen
8:30 International Trade
8:30 Gallup US Payroll to Population
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Factory Orders
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
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