#PreMarket Primer: Tuesday, October 21: China's Third Quarter Growth Disappoints

Data out on Tuesday showed that the Chinese economy grew just 7.3 percent in the third quarter, a sizable drop from the nation’s second quarter growth of 7.5 percent.

The figure beat expectations, but still marks China’s slowest quarter of growth since the financial crisis and is the first time the nation has missed its official GDP target in 15 years.

The disappointing figure was attributed largely to a slowdown in the nation’s property sector, and has most analysts forecasting that China will be unable to meet its annual growth target at the end of 2014.

Now, Beijing will be under pressure to ease further as some economists say the government will need to cut interest rates in order to boost growth and get back on track.

AbbVie Cancels Takeover Bid For Shire

On Monday, AbbVie Inc ABBV announced that it had officially rescinded its $55 billion offer to purchase Irish pharmaceutical company Shire PLC SHPG. AbbVie’s board of directors chose not to continue with the takeover following the U.S. Treasury’s changes to corporate tax law in order to make inversion deals like this one less appealing. Without the tax benefits of moving AbbVie’s headquarters to Europe, the company opted instead to pay Shire a $1.64 billion break-up fee.

Apple Reports Strong Earnings And Revenues

Apple Inc.’s AAPL earnings report wowed markets after the company’s iPhone sales exceeded expectations with a 16 percent rise. The company’s only weakness was iPad sales, which have been slowly diminishing over the past year. However, many are hopeful that Apple’s new alliance with International Business Machines Corp. IBM will help boost sales as the tablets are marketed to corporate customers.

France, Germany Clash Over Eurozone Economy

A growing rift between France and Germany has put further pressure on investor confidence in the eurozone as the two argue over how to manage the region’s finances. France recently announced that its 2015 budget would not meet the previously agreed upon European Union mandates and that the nation’s economy could not withstand any further budget cuts. German policymakers responded by criticizing Paris and saying that as the bloc’s second largest economy, France should be leading by example. On Monday, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin called for Germany to invest 50 billion euros into the bloc’s economy, something that would make up for France’s budget misses.

CVS Caremark Charges More For Filling Prescriptions At Pharmacies With Tobacco

After eliminating the sale of tobacco products at all of its locations, CVS Health Corp’s CVS Caremark is offering a prescription-drug plan that charges customers more if they fill their prescriptions in a place that sells tobacco. The new plan is expected to boost sales at CVS pharmacies as customers will be reluctant to pay copayments of up to $15 more to shop at a different pharmacy.

The euro made some gains against the dollar, up 0.12 percent to $1.2813 and gained 0.15 percent against the pound, but lost 0.18 percent against the yen. The dollar gained 0.27 percent against the yen and 0.02 percent against the pound, but lost 0.16 percent against the Australian dollar.

• Apple Inc. AAPL reported fourth quarter EPS of $1.42 on revenue of $42.12 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $1.18 on revenue of $37.47 billion.
• International Business Machines Corp. IBM reported third quarter EPS of $3.68 on revenue of $22.40 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $3.99 on revenue of $23.72 billion.
• Halliburton Company HAL reported third quarter EPS of $1.19 on revenue of $8.70 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.83 on revenue of $7.47 billion.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG reported third quarter EPS of $4.15 on revenue of $1.08 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $2.66 on revenue of $826.91 million.

#PreMarket Movers

• Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM was up 0.20 percent in premarket trade after rising 1.02 percent over the past five days.
• International Business Machines Corp. IBM was down 1.48 percent in premarket trade after announcing worse-than-expected earnings on Monday.
• Verizon Communications Inc. VZ was down 0.12 percent in premarket trade after rising 0.85 percent on Monday.

Earnings

• Verizon Communications Inc. VZ is expected to report third quarter EPS of $0.91 on revenue of $31.58 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.77 on revenue of $30.28 billion.
• The Coca-Cola Company KO is expected to report third quarter EPS of $0.53 on revenue of $12.12 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.53 on revenue of $12.03 billion.
• McDonald’s Corporation MCD is expected to report third quarter EPS of $1.38 on revenue of $7.19 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $1.52 on revenue of $7.32 billion.
• Yahoo! Inc. YHOO is expected to report third quarter EPS of $0.30 on revenue of $1.04 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.34 on revenue of $1.08 billion.

Economics