Morning News

MAY 18, 2015

US futures slipping at this 7AM hour following mostly red arrows around the world with little on the economic calendar today but what could be a revealing week as some heavyweight retails announce earnings on Tues and Wed., and we get a look at the FOMC minutes on Wednesday. Overnight, crude rose back over $60/barrel as oil bulls and bears play tug-of-war. Increased fighting in the Middle East spurns fears that supply may be disrupted in that area, while traders remain cautious over the upcoming OPEC meeting and the expected recovery in t US shale production.

NEWS:

BABA: Alibaba sued in US by luxury brands over counterfeit goods, reuters reports
AAPL: Top U.S. hedge funds continued to dump Apple amid rally, reuters reports
ENDP: Endo to buy generic drug maker Par Pharmaceutical in a +$8B deal
RIO: Rio Tinto plans to sell Pacific Aluminum for $1B, reports reuters
AAPL: Apple has acquired high-precision GPS firm Coherent Navigation, reports thenextweb
GOOG: GOOGL: AMZN: EBAY: Google to launch “buy” buttons, which will take them to a Google product page, where they can purchase the item(s).
SYT: Barrons out positive on Syngenta even without Monsanto
RL: Barrons out positive, sees possible +15-20%
AAL: JBLUE: UAL: LUV: DAL: US airlines expect to carry a record number of passengers this summer, reports wsj
JBLU: announces flights into and out of Mexico City starting in October
JKS: JinkoSolar to Supply 50 MW of Solar Panels to Tegnatia for Projects in Turkey, reports prnewswire
GILD: The WHO has added new treatments for hepatitis C to its essential medicines list, including Gilead Sciences’ Sovaldi and Harvoni, but says prices must come down before most people will be able to access them, from daily drug bulletin
CELG, XLRN: Celgene and Acceleron annouce fast track approval for luspatercept
ANN: ASNA: Ascena Retail Group acquires Ann Inc for $47/share
MDVN: Enzalutamide meets primary endpoints

ON THE ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

10AM: NAHB Housing Market Index

EARNINGS:

JASO: Q1 EPS of $0.13 beats by $0.07: revenue of $387.7M misses by $22.44M: conference call 8AM EST

SOME NOTABLE EARNINGS AFTER THE CLOSE TODAY:

A, LF, MOMO, NOAH, PLAB, TTWO, URBN

ANALYSTS’ RATINGS CHANGES:

UPGRADES:

CTRP: upgrade: neutral to overweight: JPM: pt raised from $63 to $87
CBI: upgrade: sell to neutral: Goldman: pt raised from $40 to $55
CPQ: upgrade: neutral to buy: Goldman: $44
EMES: upgrade: neutral to buy: Goldman: $41
NFX: upgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman: $46
CLR: upgrade: neutral to buy: Goldman: $60

DOWNGRADES:

YELP: downgrade: overweight to neutral: Piper: pt cut from $70 to $46
KSU: downgrade: buy to neutral: BofA/Merrill:
CPG: downgrade: buy to neutral: Goldman: $28
CHK: downgrade: buy to neutral: Goldman: $16
CTXS: downgrade: buy to neutral: Goldman: $69
CVX: downgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman: $99
GPOR: downgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman: $34
LINE: downgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman: $10
MUR: downgrade: neutral to sell: Goldman: $38
RRC: downgrade: conviction buy to neutral: Goldman: $60 (thats a double downgrade)
HES: downgrade: buy to neutral: Goldman: $68