10 things you need to know before the opening bell (spy, spx, qqq, dia, goog, sbux, msft, slb, scwx)
Reuters/Carlo Allegri
Here is what you need to know.
Europe is stuck in a "slow growth rut." Markit's composite PMI reading slipped to 53.0 in April from 53.1 in March. The number missed the 53.2 print that economists were forecasting. Chris Williamson, Markit's chief economist said, "The eurozone economy remains stuck in a slow growth rut in April, with the PMI once again signaling GDP growth of just 0.3% at the start of the second quarter, broadly in line with the meagre pace of expansion seen now for a full year." Notable was the sharp contraction in French manufacturing, which fell to 48.3, its weakest since March 2015. On the other side of the spectrum, Germany's manufacturing number climbed to 51.9, its highest since December. The euro is little changed at 1.1275.
Talks between Greece and its creditors continue. Talks between Greece and its international creditors continue in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Friday. While there are reports that progress has been made, no deal is expected. "If we make progress on the content of the program and the next steps then we need to start the discussion on debt. We're only at the beginning of that discussion, so don't expect any deals today," Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers, told reporters. Greece's 10-year yield is down 19 basis points at 8.27%.
The first tech IPO of 2016 is already a disappointment. Dell's spinoff SecureWorks priced its initial public offering at $14 per share. This was below the $15.50 to $17.50 range that the company was hoping for. The pricing gives the cybersecurity firm a market cap of about $1.13 billion. SecureWorks will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker 'SCWX.'
Valeant might've found its CEO. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters, Valeant is in negotiations with Perrigo head Joseph Papa to become its next CEO. However, the source was unsure if Perrigo would allow Papa out of his non-compete clause. Michael Pearson will continue as Valeant's CEO until his replacement is named.
Alphabet's earnings missed. Google's parent company earned an adjusted $7.50 per share, missing the $7.96 that was expected by a wide margin. Revenue grew 17.4% year-over-year to $20.35 billion, but that below the $20.38 billion Wall Street was looking for. The closely followed cost per click metric fell 9%, besting the 11% drop that analysts were expecting. Paid clicks jumped 29% year-over-year, but that missed the 32% gain that was anticipated. "We've long invested in building the best machine-learning team and tools, and we're seeing these efforts bear fruit in many ways," CEO Sundar Pichai said on the earnings call.
Microsoft guidance falls short. The company announced third quarter adjusted earnings of $0.62 per share, missing the $0.64 that Wall Street was anticipating. Non-GAAP revenue edged up 1.6% to $22.1 billion, which was just ahead of the $22.09 billion estimate. Revenue guidance for the fourth quarter was light, coming in at $21.7 billion to $22.4 billion versus analyst expectations of $23.1 billion. All three of the company's product lines (Intelligent Cloud, More Personal Computing, and Productivity & Business Services) showed subpar growth of between 1% and 3%.
Starbucks sales disappoint. The coffee giant earned $0.39 per share on revenue of $5.00 billion, pretty much dead on with analyst expectations. Global comparable sales were a bit light, coming in at up 6% versus a year ago when analysts were calling for 6.7% growth. Sales in all three regions (US; China and Asia-Pacific; andEurope, middle East, and Africa) disappointed. "Starbucks Q2 represented another quarter of solid growth, with the highest revenues of any non-holiday quarter in our history and excellent financial, operating and profit performance," said CFO Scott Mew in the earnings release.
Schlumberger has a bearish outlook for the oil industry. The world's largest oilfield services company announced earnings of $0.40 per share on revenue of $6.52 billion. While the numbers edged out Wall Street estimates, net income tumbled 63% compared to a year ago to $501 million, excluding charges and credits, as the oil crash took its toll. "This environment is expected to continue deteriorating over the coming quarter given the magnitude and erratic nature of the disruptions in activity," CEO Paal Kibsgaard said in the earnings release.
Stock markets around the world trade mixed. Japan's Nikkei (+1.2%) led in Asia and the UK's FTSE (-0.8%) lags in Europe. S&P 500 futures are up 3.00 points at 2086.00.
Earnings reports continue to flow. American Airlines, AutoNation, Caterpillar, General Electric, Honeywell, Kimberly-Clark, and McDonald's are among the names releasing their quarterly reports ahead of the opening bell.