Benzinga Market Primer, Thursday May 30

Futures Slightly Lower After Wall Street Sell-Off, Surge in M&A

U.S. equity futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade after another sell-off Wednesday despite an upswing in M&A activity. Several deals have been announced this week and the M&A market has remained strong in 2013, a key sign of corporate confidence in the economic recovery.

Top News

In other news around the markets:

• Japanese flow of funds data showed net selling by domestics for the second consecutive week as the Nikkei Index dropped over 5 percent and the yen strengthened against the dollar. For the government's stimulus policies to truly take hold, investors would want to see Japanese domestics purchasing foreign assets, which would further aid in the decline in the yen.


• Italy sold 5.75 billion euros in 5- and 10-year bonds with yields rising in each maturity despite strong demand. The yield on the 5-year BTP rose to 3.01 percent from 2.84 percent at the previous auction and the yield on the 10-year BTP rose to 4.14 percent from 3.94 percent.


• Two large M&A deals were announced Wednesday. The first deal involved Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) being bought for $4.72 billion by a Chinese company. Also, Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) Mid-American Energy purchased NV Energy (NYSE: NVE) for $5.6 billion.


• S&P 500 futures fell 3.00 points to 1,644.00.


• The EUR/USD was higher at 1.2997.


• Spanish 10-year government bond yields rose 2 basis points to 4.44 percent.


• Italian 10-year government bond yields rose 4 basis points to 4.22 percent.


• Gold rose 1.09 percent to $1,407.00 per ounce.

Asian Markets

Asian shares were in flux overnight as Japanese stocks closed sharply lower as the Nikkei Index officially entered correction territory after making a 5-year high last week. The Japanese Nikkei Index closed 5.15 percent lower as the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.13 percent and the Hang Seng Index declined 0.31 percent. Also, the Korean Kospi fell 0.05 percent and Australian shares lost 0.89 percent.

European Markets

European shares traded mostly higher overnight save for shares in Spain as the government announced that GDP fell 0.5 percent last month, in line with expectations, but the previous month's figure was reduced to -0.8 percent growth from the initial estimate of -0.5 percent. The Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.07 percent as the Italian FTSE MIB Index rose 2.1 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 1.16 percent and the French CAC 40 gained 0.12 percent while U.K. shares added 0.08 percent.

Commodities

Commodities were mixed overnight as energy futures lagged and metals gained. WTI Crude futures fell 0.77 percent to $92.41 per barrel and Brent Crude futures declined 0.73 percent to $101.68 per barrel. Copper futures rose 0.29 percent to $330.65 after Wednesday's drop. Gold was higher and silver futures rose 1.03 percent to $22.69 per ounce.

Currencies

Currency markets continued Wednesday's moves as the dollar retreated from recent highs against most other currencies. The EUR/USD was higher at 1.2997 and the dollar fell against the yen to 100.82. Overall, the Dollar Index fell 0.35 percent on weakness against the Swiss franc, the euro, the pound, and the yen.

Earnings Reported Yesterday

Key companies that reported earnings Wednesday include:

• Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO) reported second quarter EPS of $1.46 vs. $1.50 expected on revenue of $588.7 million vs. $609.73 million expected.


• DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) reported first quarter EPS of $1.00 vs. $0.90 a year ago on revenue of $601.4 million vs. $588.83 million expected.
• Michael Kors Holdings (NYSE: KORS) reported fourth quarter EPS of $0.50 vs. $0.39 expected on revenue of $597.2 million vs. $544.71 million expected.


• The Fresh Market (NASDAQ: TFM) reported first quarter EPS of $0.46 vs. $0.44 expected on revenue of $366.6 million vs. $369.83 million expected.

Pre-Market Movers

Stocks moving in the pre-market included:

• NV Energy (NYSE: NVE) shares rose 24.43 percent pre-market after the acquisition announcement yesterday.


• Alcoa (NYSE: AA) shares declined 1.63 percent pre-market after Moody's cut its credit rating to Ba1 from Baa3 which now places the company in junk bond territory.


• Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) shares rose 0.88 percent as gold futures rose back above $1,400.00 per ounce.


• Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) shares declined 1.00 percent pre-market after the ship fire earlier this week.

Earnings

Notable companies expected to report earnings Thursday include:

• Costco (NYSE: COST) is expected to report third quarter EPS of $1.03 vs. $0.88 a year ago.


• Joy Global (NYSE: JOY) is expected to report second quarter EPS of $1.58 vs. $2.04 a year ago.


• Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE: KKD) is expected to report first quarter EPS of $0.17 vs. $0.14 a year ago.


• Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) is expected to report third quarter EPS of $0.05 vs. $0.07 a year ago.


• Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK) is expected to report a first quarter loss of $0.06 per share vs. a loss of $0.04 per share a year ago.

Economics

On the economics calendar Thursday, the latest revision to first quarter GDP is due out as well as initial jobless claims, corporate profits, and the Pending Home Sales Index. Also, the Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes. Overnight, Japanese Industrial Production and the Eurozone Unemployment Rate are expected to be released.

Good luck and good trading.

Click here to view Benzinga's Market Wrap for Wednesday, May 29.