Every morning we put out a report with the latest on global stock markets, company news, and global economic news.
Morning Market Update
Market Levels
- US: Dow Futures: 12477.00 (-0.30%), S&P 500 Futures: 1312.10 (-0.61%), NASDAQ Futures: 2534.50 (-0.41%)
- Europe: CAC: 3023.31 (-0.78%), DAX: 6107.91 (-0.87%), FTSE: 5450.97 (-0.42%).
- Asia-Pacific: Australia: 4063.80 (-0.22%), China: 2318.92 (1.26%), Hong Kong: 19026.52 (0.81%), India: 5121.45 (0.11%), Japan: 8587.84 (0.60%).
- Metals: Gold: 1617.30 (0.22%), Silver: 28.80 (-0.53%), Copper: 3.34 (0.15%)
- Energy: Crude Oil: 82.72 (-0.72%), Natural Gas: 2.19 (-2.06%)
- Commodities: Corn: 5.16 (-1.15%), Soya Bean: 13.25 (-0.86%), Wheat: 6.17 (0.20%)
- Currency: EUR/USD: 1.2538 (0.27%), GBP/USD: 1.5553 (-0.12%), USD/JPY: 79.4900 (-0.05%)
- 10 year US Treasury: 1.651% (-0.014)
Financial and Economic News Update
U.S. stock-index futures down: U.S. stock index futures are pointing to a lower open on Wednesday, after retail sales fell for the second straight month in May for the first time in nearly two years. The Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ futures were all trading close to half a percent lower.
European markets in the red: European markets are down in trade today, with the German DAX (INDEXDB:DAX) trading 0.9 percent lower at 6107.91, the FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) down 0.4 percent at 5450.97, and the CAC 40 (INDEXEURO:PX1) slumping 0.8 percent to 3023.31. The euro zone blue-chip ESTX 50 PR.EUR (INDEXSTOXX:SX5E) (Euro Stoxx 50) was trading 0.4 percent lower.
Asian markets end higher: Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s NIKKEI 225 (INDEXNIKKEI:NI225) closing up 0.6 percent at 8587.84. The HANG SENG INDEX (INDEXHANGSENG:HSI) ended the session 0.8 percent higher at 19026.52, while the SSE Composite Index (SHA:000001) (Shanghai Composite Index) jumped 1.3 percent to 2318.92. The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) index was down 0.2 percent at 4063.80. The benchmark Indian 30-share BSE SENSITIVE (INDEXBOM:SENSEX) index closed up 0.12 percent to 16,883.4 points
Company News Update
U.S.
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)’s Chief Executive Jamie Dimon will testify before the U.S. Senate Banking committee, a month after the bank suffered a shock $2 billion trading loss.
- Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM), the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, said it will buy back $18 billion of its common stock over the next three years.
- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has received U.S. regulatory approval for its $19.7 billion acquisition of Swiss orthopedic products maker Synthes, and expects to close the deal by tomorrow. J.P. Morgan Securities has upgraded the stock to “overweight” from “neutral”.
- Restaurant chain McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) has been downgraded to “neutral” from “buy” at Goldman Sachs. The stock was down close to one percent in pre-market trading.
- Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) is close to selling its luxury handset subsidiary Vertu to Swedish private-equity firm EQT Partners AB for around 200 million euros, Bloomberg reported.
- Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG), the maker of lawn care products, expects to fall short of its fiscal 2012 earnings forecast, due to lower than expected sales at its largest US retail partners.
- Payment processing services company Global Payments Inc (NYSE:GPN) has warned that fallout from a recent security breach may be more widespread than initially thought.
- Mobile computing devices maker Intermec Inc. (NYSE:IN) said it would reduce the size of its global workforce by about 7 percent under a corporate restructuring plan to lower costs.
- 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD), the provider of three-dimensional printing solutions, will sell $100 million in common stock in a secondary offering, the proceeds from which will be used to fund future acquisitions.
- The board of U.S. Silica Holdings Inc (NYSE:SLCA), the second largest domestic producer of commercial silica, has approved a $25 million share buy back program.
- Goldman Sachs has added chocolate maker The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) to its “Conviction Buy” list with a target price of $76.
Europe
- Spanish fashion retailer Inditex SA (MCE:ITX) reported a 30 percent jump in first-quarter net profit, topping analyst estimates, due to strong growth in overseas markets.
- J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY), the UK’s third-largest supermarket group, said sales rose 1.4 percent in its first quarter, at stores open at least a year, that was largely in line with analysts’ estimates.
- British supply-chain software maker Kewill Plc (LON:KWL) has accepted a takeover offer from Symphony Technology Group, which values the company at about 99.6 million pounds ($155 million). Symphony made its offer through Kestrel Bidco Limited
- Shares of French oil and gas group Maurel & Prom (EPA:MAU) soared 20 percent in trade today, after media reports suggested that Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) is interested in buying the company.
- Barclays has lowered the price target of Man Group Plc (LON:EMG), the world’s biggest publicly traded hedge-fund manager, by 25 percent to 105 pence.
- French media and telecoms group Vivendi SA (EPA:VIV) jumped 1.5 percent after analysts at Jefferies upgraded the stock to “buy” from “hold”.
Asia-Pacific
- Whitehaven Coal Limited (ASX:WHC), Australia’s largest publicly listed coal producer, has rejected a takeover offer from top shareholder, billionaire coal baron Nathan Tinkler, saying it was incomplete and highly conditional.
- Hong Kong listed fashion retailer Esprit Holdings Limited (HKG:0330) said its group chief executive Ronald van der Vis has resigned for personal reasons. He became the second top official to quit in six months, casting uncertainty over the company’s turnaround efforts.
- Daily deals site Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN), which gets bulk of its revenue from outside North America, has named former Sega Corp. chief operating officer Okitane Usui, as head of its businesses across Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan, The Wall Street Journal reported. Usui will be based in Tokyo.
- Australia’s largest investment bank Macquarie Group Limited (ASX:MQG) has bought a 5.1 per cent stake in casinos operator Echo Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:EGP).
- Japanese multinational conglomerate Hitachi, Ltd. (TYO:6501) is planning to buy German power plant service provider Xervon Energy for several billion yen by the end of this year, business daily Nikkei reported.
- Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX:FMG), the world’s fourth largest iron ore producer, said it had merged some of its lower grade iron ore assets with Chinese steel producer Baosteel.
Economic Calendar for Wednesday, June 13, 2012:
07:00 A.M. ET: MBA Purchase Applications (Week ending Friday, June 08, 2012)
08:30 A.M. ET: Producer Price Index (YoY) (May)
08:30 A.M. ET: Producer Price Index (MoM) (May)
08:30 A.M. ET: Producer Price Index ex Food & Energy (YoY) (May)
08:30 A.M. ET: Producer Price Index ex Food & Energy (MoM) (May)
08:30 A.M. ET: Retail Sales (MoM) (May)
08:30 A.M. ET: Retail Sales ex Autos (MoM) (May)
10:00 A.M. ET: Business Inventories (April)
10:30 A.M. ET: EIA Petroleum Status Report (Week ending Friday, June 08, 2012)
01:00 P.M. ET: 10-Yr Note Auction
