News Summary for June 21, 2011
This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Tuesday, June 21, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Tuesday's pre-market session.
Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S. equity futures are trading higher as the U.S. dollar is slightly lower this morning on optimism of a Greek bailout.
Overseas last night, European stocks rose as investors wait for a confidence vote for Greece's austerity measures to comply with conditions of the bailout. Asian stocks also followed suit on optimism of the potential rescue plan. Tokyo exchanges closed more than one percent higher for the session.
On the economic calendar today, existing home sales for May are to be reported at 10:00 a.m. ET. The expected reading is 4.80 million versus a prior 5.05 million.
On the earnings front, Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) reported a third quarter earnings and revenue beat and expects organic growth for the rest of the fiscal year to be 2.5%-3%.
Earlier this morning, Australian beer giant Foster's rejected SABMiller's $10.1 billion dollar bid, stating the offer was too low. However, investors expect Foster's will submit to a higher offer.
In the biotechnology sector, Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), together with Amylin Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AMLN) and Alkermes (Nasdaq: ALKS), announced that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization to BYDUREON.
On the commodity front, gold and silver futures are trading relatively higher on the session. Gold recently hit a two-week high. Likewise, crude oil and gasoline futures are trading higher on the session, as commodities across the board trade higher.
In corporate news, struggling phone maker Nokia (NYSE: NOK) unveiled its new smart phone, which failed to impress analysts', however, shares of Nokia are trading nearly 2% higher in pre-market trading. AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) is also in final talks to sell its Swedish healthcare and dental business to Dentsply International for around $1.8 billion.
This concludes your news summary for June 21, 2011.
