Closing Bell
Benchmark 10-year notes briefly touched 3% on Monday, continuing gains made last week. On Friday, April 20, the 10-year traded as high as 2.956%, the highest level since January 2014. At last check, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 2.98%.
Treasury yields have risen sharply over the past two weeks and global oil prices have spiked, stoking concerns that inflation will begin to accelerate in the coming months. The Federal Reserve's signaling on future interest rate hikes also has supported rising yields.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.07%, or 16 points to 24,447, while the Nasdaq fell 0.25%, or 18 points to 7,129, and the S&P 500 closed the day flat at 2,670.
Jeff Gundlach Is Off of the Facebook Bandwagon
DoubleLine Capital chief investment officer Jeffrey Gundlach told the crowd at the Sohn Conference in New York to say that its time to short Facebook (FB) , Bloomberg reported.
The company's fundamentals aside, Gundlach believes that commodities are the way of the futures as the chances of the next recession increases.
"Some people think inflation should not rise going into a recession, but actually the opposite is true," Gundlach said. "One should expect that as the next recession approaches, commodities should have a big gain."
Apple Deal for Shazam Is Under 'In-Depth Investigation' in EU
Apple's (AAPL) pending acquisition of music-identifying service Shazam is the subject of an "in-depth investigation" by the European Commission, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager announced Monday.
"Access to such data could allow Apple to directly target its competitors' customers and encourage them to switch to Apple Music. As a result, competing music streaming services could be put at a competitive disadvantage," regulators said.
The Commission set a September deadline to conclude the investigation.
U.S. Existing-Home Sales Rise in March After Falling a Year Ago
Previously owned U.S. home sales grew 1.1% month to month in March, the National Association of Realtors reported, to a seasonally annual rate of 5.6 million.
Economists were expecting a sales rate of 5.55 million. 2018's March performance was well ahead of the 1.2% decline reported a year ago.
Hom sales were on a two-month losing streak to end 2017 and begin 2018 but rebounded in February and March.
Sears CEO Offers to Buy Kenmore, Other Assets
Sears (SHLD) CEO Edward Lampert offered to purchase the Kenmore appliance brand and other Sears assets after the company failed to find viable buyers for the business segments.
Lampert made his intentions known in a letter where he says he will make the purchases through his hedge fund ESL Investments, which currently owns a controlling stake in the retailer.
"In our view, pursuing these divestitures now will demonstrate the value of Sears' portfolio of assets, will provide an important source of liquidity to Sears and could avoid any deterioration in the value of such assets," Lampert wrote.
Hasbro Tumbles as Toys R Us Weighs on Results
Hasbro (HAS) blamed its $100 million revenue miss on the demise of retailer Toys R Us, leading the company to trade 1% lower Monday morning.
The company reported earning a dime per share on an adjusted basis, well short of analysts' consensus 33 cents per share expectations.
Revenue for the quarter fell 16% to %716.3 million, short of analysts' consensus $814 million estimates.
Under Armour Climbs as Deutsche Bank Turns Bullish on Overseas Business
Shares of athletic apparel maker Under Armour (UA) were up 1.8% to $14.24 in early market trading Monday after analysts at Deutsche Bank upgraded the company to "hold" from "sell."
The firm is bullish on the company's "rapidly growing" overseas business which could balance out the company's struggling North American business.
"First-quarter and fiscal year 2018 earnings are attainable in our view, reflecting improved sell-through of new products and a commitment to cost reduction," analyst Paul Trussell wrote.
Tencent Music Planning IPO That Could Value Company at $25 Billion
Tencent Music Entertainment Group is planning an IPO that could be the largest tech IPO in history, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The company, which is China's largest music streaming company, could be valued as high as $25 billion following its public debut.
Tencent Music Entertainment Group is part of Tencent Holdings (TCEHY) . The company's public debut would follow that of European music streaming counterpart Spotify (SPOT) , which debuted earlier this month.
Walmart, Flipkart Reportedly Closing in on Deal
Walmart (WMT) is reportedly close to finalizing a deal to purchase between 60% and 80% of Flipkart, India's leading online grocery delivery service for $12 billion. The deal could value Flipkart as high as $20 billion.
Last year the company was estimated to be worth $12 billion after it received a $1.4 billion investment from Microsoft (MSFT) , Tencent (TCEHY) and eBay (EBAY) .
Bloomberg reported that while a deal is close, there could be potential snags including which shareholders will sell, how much they will sell, and whether Flipkart's leadership remains.
Premarket
U.S futures were mixed ahead of the market open Monday as markets look to rebound from a down day of trading to end the week Friday.
Dow futures and S&P futures were both basically even while Nasdaq futures rose 0.1%, indicating an open 7 points higher.
World markets were in the red across the board led by losses in Asia where the Hang Seng dropped 0.54%, the Nikkei declined 0.33% and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.11%.
In Europe, the CAC 40 fell 0.07%, the DAX declined 0.05% and the FTSE 100 fell 0.02% with about four hours left in trading.
