Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Wall Street Breakfast: Global Bond Rout Continues


Economy
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 that stemmed from a decision by index provider 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
Bayer 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 (OTCPK:BAYRY) intends to list its plastics unit on the stock market, as it looks to focus on more lucrative life-sciences businesses.


A Pennsylvania judge has recommended Kirkland & Ellis be prevented from advising Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TEVA) on its attempted takeover of Mylan (NASDAQ: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 (NYSE:PRGO).
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. Related stocks: KO, PEP, DPS,COT, MNST, OTCQB:JSDA, REED, FIZZ, HSY, DF.
After receiving several offers, United Technologies' (NYSE: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 (NYSE:TXT). Alternatively, Sikorsky may be sold outright to another company. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Airbus (OTCPK:EADSY) have all expressed interest.
Whoops! 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 (NYSE:TGT) mistakenly published the press release before its board officially approved it.
Paving the road for a future stock split, Netflix (NASDAQ: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. NFLX +1.1% premarket.
Bill Winters, the former JPMorgan Chase banker turned regulatory adviser, dons on a new cap today - as chief executive of emerging markets bank Standard Chartered (OTCPK:SCBFF). "We need to reinforce our foundations; streamline our business; strengthen our financial position; and re-orient the bank for better returns on our capital," Winters said in his first letter to staff. The new CEO will announce the bank's leadership team after the summer and provide details of his broader plans by the end of the year.
The attorneys general of New York and Connecticut are investigating whether the deals struck by Apple (NASDAQ: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.
Tesla's 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." TSLA up marginally premarket.

Today's Markets:
In Asia, Japan -0.3% to 20046. Hong Kong -1.1% to 26687. China -0.2% to 5106. India +1.4% to 26841.
In Europe, at midday, London +0.3%. Paris +0.6%. Frankfurt +1%.
Futures at 6:20: 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%
Notable earnings before today's open: FRAN
Notable earnings after today's close: BV, BOX, DDC, KKD, MW
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