The Market In 5 Minutes: Big Earnings In Focus And A Tobacco Giant In The Making

Macro Focus

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 61 points to 18,047.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures declined 7 points to 2,130.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 7 points to 4,836.75.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures gained 0.60 percent to trade at $51.69 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 0.43 percent to trade at $50.85 a barrel.

Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo is set to speak in New York at 10:15 a.m. ET.
The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.
San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in San Francisco at 2:30 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

Microsoft Corporation MSFT Reports Q1 EPS 0.76 vs $0.68 Est., Sales $22.33 billion vs $21.7 billion Est.
McDonald's Corporation MCD Reports Q3 EPS $1.50 vs $1.49 Est., Sales $6.42 billion vs $6.28 billion Est.
General Electric Company GE Reports Q3 Adj. EPS $0.32, In line, Sales $29.27 billion vs $29.6 billion Est.
Paypal Holdings Inc PYPL Reports Q3 Adj EPS $0.35, In line, Revenue $2.667 billion vs $2.65 billion Est.
Honeywell International Inc. HON Reports Q3 EPS $1.67 vs $1.70 Est., Sales $9.804 billion vs $9.79 billion Est.
Schlumberger Limited. SLB Reports Q3 Adj EPS $0.25 vs $0.22 Est, Rev $7.019 bilion vs $7.08 billion Est
Skechers USA Inc SKX Reports Q3 EPS $0.42 vs. Est. $0.47, Rev. $942 million vs. Est. $954 million

Sell-Side Themes

Union Pacific Corporation UNP received a pair of downgrades to Market/Sector Perform.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation CHK received a pair of upgrades to Neutral.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Jefferies downgraded Yahoo! Inc. YHOO to Hold.
Stifel upgraded Paypal to Buy.
Piper Jaffray started Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT at Neutral.
JPMorgan started Valvoline Inc VVV at Neutral.
Wunderlich started CBS Corporation CBS at Buy.

Deal Talk

British American Tobacco PLC (ADR) BTI made a $47 billion takeover offer for the roughly 58 percent of Reynolds American, Inc. RAI that it doesn’t already own — a move that would cement the two cigarette giants’ longstanding trans-Atlantic ties and create the world’s largest listed tobacco company by revenue and market value. BAT owns 42.2 percent of Reynolds, and is offering cash and BAT stock worth $56.50 a share for the rest of the company.

In The News

Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS is running recruiting ads on Spotify as part of a retooled effort to reach young potential employees. The audio and banner ads appearing in the U.S. and U.K. link to Goldman’s app and introduce potential recruits to different parts of the company. One of Wall Street’s largest investment banks, Goldman is trying to entice potential applicants by stressing the opportunity to have a positive impact on society.

Shares of Alkermes Plc ALKS are trading up more than 40 percent after the company announced positive topline results from its late-stage clinical study of ALKS 5461 for the treatment of depression. According to data out of FORWARD-5, the company’s third phase 3 efficacy study, ALKS 5461 considerably reduced the symptoms seen in patients with major depression disorder, compared to a placebo.

Blogosphere

"Nintendo's new games console isn't named for its key feature. It's a plea: Switch," write Gadfly's Tim Culpan. "Catchy name, catchy concept. Instead of choosing between a TV-connected machine and a handheld device, the Nintendo Switch offers both."

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-