Every morning the Street of Walls team puts out an update on market levels, today’s top stories, and active M&A deals.
Morning Market Levels:
- S&P futures are down -13 points to 1,268
- Europe: DJ Euro Stoxx -1.4%, FTSE -1.1%, CAC -1.5%, DAX -1.5%, Spain -1.1%, Italy -2.2%
- Asia: Japan -0.7%, Hong Kong -0.8%, India -0.6%, Australia -1.3%
- USD (DXY) up 1.23%
- Gold down -1.26% to $1,721.9
- Silver down -2.72% to $34.4
- Copper down -2.66% to $360.8
- Crude down -0.66% to $92.7
- Corn down -1.07% to 648.0
- Wheat down -1.01% to $638.0
- 10yr Treasury yields are up, trading at 2.23%
- S&P current trading at 12.94x current year P/E
Today’s Top Stories:
- Barclays Weekend Update: “There was little fresh news over the weekend regarding the possible participation of China in the EFSF or a parallel vehicle. EFSF head, Klaus Regling, said the EFSF was authorised to issue debt in any currency, but that CNY issuance would be contingent on approval by Chinese authorities. Attention is now likely to turn to this week’s G20 leaders’ Summit on 3-4 November” (Barclays Research)
- Google Partnerships: According to reports in The Wall Street Journal, Google is likely to announce content partnerships with leading media companies and well-known personalities including Electus, ShineReville unit and FremantleMedia Ltd. Google will reportedly pay up to $100MM in cash advances for some of the content produced
- MF Global Bankruptcy: Jon S. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor, raced over the weekend to find a buyer for MF Global Holdings Ltd. in an attempt to rescue the securities firm he now runs from a crisis partially of his own making http://on.wsj.com/vb2aE2
- CS cutting another 1k Jobs: Swiss bank Credit Suisse will announce the loss of another 1,000 jobs when it presents third-quarter results on Tuesday, a Swiss newspaper reported without revealing its sources…moreinvestment banking resumes on the street http://bit.ly/tY8XVn
- RBS Reduces Autozone Stake: Eddie Lampert’s RBS Partners has disclosed that it has reduced its stake in Autozone (NYSE:AZO) from 27.8% to 26.3% http://bit.ly/uFyV27
- Romney GOP Frontrunner: the conclusion of the Republican strategists surveyed in this week’s National Journal Political Insiders Poll, who almost unanimously identified Mitt Romney as the most likely candidate to win the nomination http://bit.ly/rtKv4q
- NBA Cancels Another 2 Weeks: The National Basketball Association (NBA) said on Friday it had canceled another two weeks of its regular season with no end in sight to a bitter labor dispute that has locked out players for nearly four months http://bit.ly/spevD0
- Small Business Employment: Based on these latest numbers and revised national employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Intuit revised downward the previously reported growth rate for September to 0.19 percent from 0.3 percent. This equates to 40,000 jobs added in September, down from a previously reported 65,000 jobs (Intuit)
- Yahoo Buybacks: Bloomberg reports that YHOO (-3.5%) leaning twds a divvy and buyback instead of a sale. The co is now reportedly considering selling only its Asia assets
Economic Calendar:
- Monday: Chicago PMI, Dallas Fed Survey
- Tuesday: ISM Manufacturing, Construction Spending
- Wednesday: ADP Employment, FOMC Rate Decision
- Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims, ISM Non-Manufacturing, Factory Orders
- Friday: Nonfarm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate
M&A Watch:
- FDIC Bank Failures – There was one additional FDIC failure during the prior week bringing the number of failures year-to-date to 85 and cycle-to-date to 410
- TMX Group, which owns Toronto Stock Exchange, says it will recommend shareholders accept a $3.72b takeover from group of Canadian banks and pension funds, turning unsolicited offer into friendly bid (BBG)
- MF Global, which last week reported record loss, had 2 of its credit ratings cut to junk and drained bank lines, faces pivotal few days as it pitches itself to potential buyers to avert failure (BBG)