Morning Market Update
Stocks that are expected to trade actively in U.S. markets on Monday include: Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH), Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S), HSBC Holdings plc (ADR) (NYSE:HBC) (LON:HSBA), Elan Corporation, plc (ADR) (NYSE:ELN), Theravance Inc (NASDAQ:THRX) and Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA).
Market Levels
• US: Dow Futures: 15053.00 (-0.10%), S&P 500 Futures: 1627.30 (-0.14%), NASDAQ Futures: 2972.75 (-0.09%)
• Europe: CAC: 3943.75 (-0.26%), DAX: 8264.58 (-0.17%), FTSE: 6617.18 (-0.12%)
• Asia-Pacific: Australia: 5210.30 (0.08%), China: 2241.92 (-0.22%), Hong Kong: 22989.81 (-1.44%), Japan: 14782.21 (1.18%).
• Metals: Gold: 1432.00 (-0.32%), Silver: 23.69 (0.14%), Copper: 3.36 (0.06%)
• Energy: Crude Oil: 95.62 (-0.44%), Natural Gas: 3.92 (0.26%)
• Commodities: Corn: 6.38 (-1.77%), Soya Bean: 13.98 (-0.57%), Wheat: 7.05 (-2.76%)
• Currency: EUR/USD: 1.2971 (-0.14%), GBP/USD: 1.5365 (0.05%), USD/JPY: 101.7700 (0.15%)
• 10 year US Treasury: 1.916% (0.018)
Market and Economic News Update
U.S. stock-index futures trim losses: U.S. stock-index futures trimmed losses amid better than expected April retails sales data. Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent last month, Commerce Department reported Monday, compared to a forecast for a 0.6 percent decline. Business inventories data for March is due at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Economists are projecting a 0.3 percent rise in business stockpiles in March compared with February.
European markets off day’s lows: European markets retreated from lows made earlier in the session after data showed U.S. retail sales rose in April. Investors await the start of a crucial euro zone finance ministers meeting in Brussels that is likely to discuss bank bailouts and the prospect of a banking union. Earlier today, Italy sold 3.5 billion euros of three-year bonds, at the top end of forecasts. The FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) is down 0.1 percent to 6617.18, the DAX (INDEXDB:DAX) lost 0.2 percent to 8264.58 points and the CAC 40 (INDEXEURO:PX1) fell 0.3 percent. The euro zone blue-chip ESTX 50 PR.EUR (INDEXSTOXX:SX5E) (Euro Stoxx 50) slid 0.3 percent.
Asian markets end mixed: Asian stocks closed mixed following lower than expected economic data from China. Chinese industrial output grew 9.3 percent in April from a year ago, slightly below expectations, while fixed-asset investment rose 20.6 percent from a year earlier, also trailing estimates. The HANG SENG INDEX (INDEXHANGSENG:HIS) closed down 1.4 percent at 22989.81 points, while the SSE Composite Index (SHA:000001) (Shanghai Composite Index) edged 0.2 percent lower to 2241.92. Japan’s NIKKEI 225 (INDEXNIKKEI:NI225) jumped to a fresh five-and-a-half-year high amid further weakness in the yen. The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) index was flat in trade as investors await the release of the federal budget on Tuesday.
Stocks in News
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) has asked for more information from Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc. regarding their proposed takeover offer. Last week, activist investor Icahn and Southeastern challenged private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners and Michael Dell’s $24.4 billion bid to take the computer maker private with an offer of $21 billion in cash. Dell fell 0.3 percent to $13.41 at 9:00 a.m. in New York.
DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH), Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S)
Softbank Corp (TYO:9984), which owns a third of Alibaba Group, has threatened investment banks that their financing of DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH)’s $25.5 billion counter-offer for Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) could hurt their chances of being involved in the highly anticipated share listing of the Chinese e-commerce company, according to a Reuters report. Officials at SoftBank and Dish and Sprint declined to comment on the report.
HSBC Holdings plc (ADR) (NYSE:HBC) (LON:HSBA)
HSBC Holdings plc (ADR) (NYSE:HBC) (LON:HSBA), Europe’s biggest bank, could announce more job cuts on Wednesday, The Independent reported on Sunday. The company has already slashed around 46,000 jobs in the past two years and could offload up to 20 more businesses in the next two years, the newspaper said. Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver, who has been trying to create a more streamlined bank, could also raise his cost-cutting target for the year, according to the report.
Elan Corporation, plc (ADR) (NYSE:ELN), Theravance Inc (NASDAQ:THRX)
Irish drug maker Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE:ELN) has agreed to pay $1 billion to buy 21 percent of the royalties that Theravance Inc (NASDAQ:THRX) receives from GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (NYSE:GSK). Elan will receive future royalties earned by Theravance on four respiratory drugs under development in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. Elan’s board last month unanimously rejected a $5.7 billion takeover offer from Royalty Pharma, and has since made a series of moves to frustrate the bid.
Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA)
Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA) has announced a special cash dividend of 30 cents a share, payable at the end of May. The payout will cost the company $16 million. Tessera also said that it expects to complete at least $16 million of stock repurchases over the next year. Shares closed Friday at $20.64 and were inactive in pre-market trading.
Frank’s International N.V.
Energy-services company Frank’s International N.V. has filed with the SEC to raise up to $500 million through an initial public offering. The company intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FI”. The Amsterdam-based company provides tubular services to oil and gas companies like Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), and clocked $1 billion in revenue in 2012.
Economic Calendar for Monday, May 13, 2013:
08:30 A.M. ET: Retail Sales (MoM) (April)
08:30 A.M. ET: Retail Sales ex-Autos (MoM) (April)
10:00 A.M. ET: Business Inventories (March)
11:30 A.M. ET: 6-Month Bill Auction
11:30 A.M. ET: 3-Month Bill Auction
