The Market In 5 Minutes: Oil Inventories, Earnings Beats And A Walgreens-Rite Aid Snag

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

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 10 points to 18,074.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 0.50 points to 2,132.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 4 points to 4,823.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 1.28 percent to trade at $52.34 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 1.28 percent to trade at $51.27 a barrel.

Weekly API data revealed an inventory draw of 3.8 million barrels. The Street was expecting a build of about 2.4 million barrels, after last week’s 2.7 million barrels build.

Data on housing starts for September will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Newark, NJ at 8:45 a.m. ET.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Rob Kaplan will speak in Fort Worth at 1:30 p.m. ET.
The Federal Reserve will release its latest Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.
New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley is set to speak in New York at 7:45 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk Focus

Morgan Stanley MS Q3 EPS $0.81 vs $0.63 Est., Revenue $8.91B vs $8.16B Est.
Yahoo YHOO Reports Q3 Adj. EPS $0.20 vs $0.14 Est., GAAP Sales $1.305B vs $1.31B Est.
Halliburton HAL Q3 EPS $0.01 vs $(0.07) Est., Revenue $3.8B vs $3.9B Est.
Reynolds American RAI Q3 EPS $0.61 vs $0.65 Est., Revenue $3.21B vs $3.31B Est.
Intuitive Surgical ISRG Reports Q3 EPS $6.19 vs. Est. $5.13, Rev. $683M vs. $650M Est.

Sell-Side Themes

Intel INTC reported Q2 adj. EPS $0.80 vs $0.72 estimates and sales $15.8 billion vs. $15.58 billion estimates. Several analyst maintained their Buy rating on Intel, with price targets ranging from $35 to $46.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

FBR downgraded Wells Fargo WFC to Market Perform.
Jefferies downgraded Quintiles Q to Hold.
Credit Suisse upgraded Yum Brands YUM to Outperform.
Loop Capital upgraded Twitter TWTR to Hold.
Baird started Coherus Biosciences CHRS at Outperform.
Credit Suisse started Square SQ at Neutral.

Deal Talk

Blackstone BX is said be the favorite to acquire Team Health TMH, according to sources as reported by Reuters on Tuesday. The sources said Blackstone is negotiating the final terms for a deal.

Kroger KR is close to passing on acquiring the 650 stores that Walgreens WBA and Rite Aid RAD would have to sell to gain regulatory approval of their $17 billion merger, sources told the New York Post. Kroger at first expressed interest in buying the stores.

Shares of Campbell Soup CPB spiked to a high of $55.20 Tuesday, on unconfirmed market chatter that Coca-Cola KO is working with 3G Captial to structure a take-over of Campbell. Sources say a potential deal could be value at approximately $66 per share or $20 billion. Last year a report surfaced that the Dorrance family, led by 17% shareholder Mary Alice Dorrance Malone, had hired an advisor to handle a potential sale of the company.

In The News

One junk-bond trader at Goldman Sachs GS earned more than $100 million in trading profits for the firm earlier this year, an unusual gain at a time when new regulations have pushed Wall Street to take fewer risks.

Is Netflix NFLX taking over Hollywood? After its blow-out quarter and string of original hits, it just might be.

Blogosphere

If Americans are working 25 percent more than Europeans, what are the implications for retirees and the economy?

Guess This Chart

This company reported Q3 EPS of $0.99 vs. $1.01 est. on revenue of $1.50B Monday morning.
Two weeks ago it was reported that this company has had issues with some of its products, but they aren't expected to impact its ongoing merger.
Sympathy plays include Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific and Edwards Lifesciences.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

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