Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. China, India, New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia did well; Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea were weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East currently lean to the downside. Germany and Israel are doing well, but the UK, Russia, Greece, South Africa, Finland, Spain, Italy and Belgium are down. Futures in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.
The dollar is up. Oil is flat; copper is up. Gold and silver are flat. Bonds are up.
Stories/News from Seeking Alpha…
U.S. futures were down slightly early Wednesday ahead of another full day of earnings. Pre-market reports include AT&T (NYSE:T), Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) and Boeing (NYSE:BA). Tech giants Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) join Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) among those reporting after the bell. Oil prices backed off a six-month high as industry watchdog IEA warned the market isn’t as tight as feared.
Treasury yields lower after stronger earnings
U.S. Treasury yields were lower in early hours as investors took in better-than-expected corporate earnings. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was lower at around 2.538%, and the 30-year Treasury bond was lower at 2.97%.
Report: CBS CEO search complicated by concerns of looming merger
CBS (NYSE:CBS) has extended the term of interim CEO Joseph Ianniello, the former COO who took over following the exit of Les Moonves, for another six months into December. That comes as an executive search has run into reluctant candidates, the New York Post reports, due to uncertainty about a potential CBS re-merger with Viacom (VIA, VIAB) – a move that looks more likely with the company keeping Ianniello in an interim role for longer. CBS is conducting a strategic review, according to the report.
SoftBank/Didi Chuxing taxi-hailing service expanding in Japan
A Japanese joint venture between SoftBank Corp. (OTCPK:SFTBY) and China’s Didi Chuxing (DIDI) is set to expand its taxi-hailing service into 13 cities, starting with Tokyo and Kyoto today. With U.S.-style ride-hailing effectively banned, Japan is seeing hot competition for apps matching taxis with riders, including companies backed by Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Toyota (NYSE:TM). SoftBank is pursuing synergies with other portfolio companies, including route-finding with Yahoo Japan and payment with Paytm technology.
Chip stocks volatile after TI, STM earnings
Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) lost its post-earnings gains after the CFO said the cyclical downturn was likely still in its early stages. European semi peer STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) reported Q1 misses and said lower-than-expected FY19 plans would be addressed with inventory adjustments and spending cuts. European chip stocks shook off early losses, but the U.S. sector could still have a volatile day as investors seek clearer sector visibility.
Samsung investing $116B in non-memory chips
Samsung (OTC:SSNNF, OTC:SSNLF) will invest $116B through 2030 in non-volatile memory chips to take on competitors TSMC (NYSE:TSM) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM). The money will be split between domestic R&D and production infrastructure to reduce Samsung’s dependence on the volatile memory chip market.
SoftBank investing $1B in Wirecard
SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBF, OTCPK:SFTBY) will invest $1B in beleaguered German payments company Wirecard (OTCPK:WCAGY, OTCPK:WRCDF). Wirecard will issue five-year convertible bonds representing about 5.6% of common stock. The funds come with a partnership for SoftBank to help expand Wirecard’s services in Asia.
What else is happening…
PG&E (NYSE:PCG) okay to pay up to $350M in employee bonuses.
Boeing (BA) sees FAA okay on software fix in May, MAX ungrounding in July.
FDA approves Boston Scientific’s (NYSE:BSX) LOTUS Edge aortic valve system.
AbbVie’s (NYSE:ABBV) psoriasis treatment Skyrizi gets FDA approval.
Dissident trustee nominee makes ‘false and misleading’ statements, TPL (NYSE:TPL) says.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
Snap (NYSE:SNAP) +4.8% AH on Q1 user growth.
Texas Instruments (TXN) -1.4% AH after CFO downturn comments.
eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) +4.3% AH on Q1 earnings beat.
Stryker (NYSE:SYK) -3.2% AH on lower-than-expected revenue guidance.
Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) +0.5% AH on Q1 net portfolio growth of $298M.
iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) -15.4% AH on revenue miss.
Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) -2.8% AH despite Q1 earnings beat.
Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE:CP) -1.3% AH on light EPS.
Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) +8.2% AH on Q1 earnings beat.
Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ:HA) -2.1% AH despite Q1 beat.
TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) -0.50% AH on investor wariness.
Accuray (NASDAQ:ARAY) +5.2% AH on top line beat, backlog up 6%.
Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE:SIX) +1.2% AH on 5% increase in active pass base.
Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) +4% AH on Q1 beat.
Today’s Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
11:30 Results of $20B, 2-Year FRN Auction
1:00 PM Results of $41B, 5-Year Note Auction
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings from Morningstar