The Market In 5 Minutes: Jam-Packed Day Of Earnings And Economic Data

Below is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day -- it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. Apply for daily AM access by clicking here or email minutes@benzinga.com.

Macro Focus

U.S. stock futures pointed to a small drop at open, putting the Dow industrials on track to fall for the first time in nine sessions. Investors are waiting for a big dose of U.S. economic data and earnings reports.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.06 percent to trade at $47.14 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also dropped 0.28 percent to trade at $45.62 a barrel.

The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged.

USA Initial Jobless Claims for Jul 15 253.0K vs 265.0K consensus estimate.

The FHFA house price index for May is schedule for release at 9:00 a.m. ET.
Data on existing home sales for June will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk

General Motors GM Reports Q2 Adj. EPS $1.86 vs $1.52 Est., Sales $42.4B vs $38.91B Est.
Intel INTC Reports Q2 EPS $0.59 vs. Est. $0.53 , Rev. $13.5 vs. Est. $13.54
Qualcomm QCOM Reports Q2 Adj EPS $1.16 Vs Est $0.97, Revs $6.03B Vs Est $5.58B
eBay EBAY Reports Q2 Adj. EPS $0.43 vs $0.42 Est., Sales $2.2B vs $2.17B Est.
DISH Network DISH Reports Q2 EPS $0.88 vs $0.72 Est., Sales $3.84B vs $3.85B Est.
Biogen BIIB Reports Q2 EPS $5.21 vs. Est. $4.67, Rev. $2.9B vs. Est. $2.79B

Sell-Side Themes

Credit Suisse downgraded three names in the lodging sector, while MKM has preview the sector's upcoming earnings reports.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Credit Suisse downgraded F5 Networks FFIV to Neutral.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Navient NAVI to neutral.
Goldman Sachs upgraded TerraForm Global GLBL to neutral.
Baird upgraded Antero Resources AR to Outperform.
BMO initiated coverage on Advantage Oil AAV at Outperform.
Morgan Stanley started Parsley Energy PE at Overweight.

Deal Talk

Galenica announced it has entered into a agreement to acquire Relypsa RLYP, strengthening its Business unit Vifor Pharma by gaining full global rights to the potassium binder Veltassa for oral suspension and enhancing its growing position as a global specialty pharmaceutical company. Galenica will pay $32 per share in cash, or a total of approximately $1.53 billion.

Joy Global JOY will be acquired by Komatsu for $28.30 per share in cash, or $3.7 billion.

Shares of OpGen OPGN surged higher Wednesday on unconfirmed market chatter of a potential takeover by Merck MRK, according to "sources." A source familiar with the matter told Benzinga that Merck's GHI arm has an existing relationship with OpGen and a deal would would not be a surprise. But traders cited a July 11 filing showing Merck registering to sell OpGen shares. OpGen investor relations told Benzinga the company doesn't comment on market speculation.

In The News

Elon Musk has published the second part of his self-titled "masterplan." He said Tesla TSLA would be branching out into creating a "solar-roof-with-battery product" that people can have fitted to their homes. He wants the Tesla electric car range to cover all types of ground vehicles, specifically buses and lorries. And once the cars have full autonomous driving capability, Musk said Tesla would allow owners to add their cars to a shared fleet, meaning the vehicles can be making money for their owners when they are not using them.

Ted Cruz withheld an endorsement of Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, earning a chorus of boos from the floor before he was upstaged in a power play by the GOP nominee himself.

Blogosphere

"It seems like Uber's investors want to bring a halt to the massive Chinese cash giveaway that's creating jobs for unemployed steel and coal workers, but not making much money for shareholder." Read more from Gadfly's Tim Culpan.

Trending

RLYP JOY OPTT QCOM BIIB EBAY INTC DIA BX ALK DNKN LUV SWKS SSO

When a 23-year-old autistic man carrying a toy truck wandered from a mental health center out into the street Monday, a worker there named #CharlesKinsey went to retrieve him. A few minutes later the autistic man was still sitting cross-legged blocking the roadway while playing with the small, rectangular white toy. And Kinsey was prone on the ground next to him — a bullet from an assault rifle fired by a police officer having struck his leg. Cellphone video of the incident was released on Wednesday.