Bonds were taking it on the chin this morning and European stocks and domestic equity markets futures were all lower as the Greece debt soap opera continues to concern investors, but the euro was stronger.
New York Fed president William Dudley said that the U.S. economic outlook is still too uncertain to point to when the Fed will start raising interest rates. These comments fueled the euro's strength against the dollar in early trading.
This morning Verizon (VZ) said it would buy AOL in a deal valued at $4.4 billion, as it offers $50 per share for AOL (AOL), a 17% premium to Monday's closing price.
The M&A rumorville this morning is abuzz, after The Wall Street Journal reported that Pall (PLL) was in the late stages of its auction process that is anticipated to bring a value to the company of at least $13 billion. The report states that Trifecta Stocks' Danaher (DHR) and Thermo Fisher (THO) are among the potential acquirers.
Pall was trading up over 30% in the pre-market on this news. Separately, US Foods says it will walk away from its merger deal with Sysco (SYY) if the courts delay the planned merger, as the FTC has requested more time to decide on the deal.
Notable earnings reports today include:International Flavors (IFF), McKesson (MCK), and Zillow (Z).
Today's economic calendar offers us the NFIB Small Business Optimism April report at 9 a.m. with consensus at 96. At 2 p.m. we will get the Monthly (April) Budget Statement with consensus at $138.0billion. At 4:30p.m. the API weekly oil inventories will be released.
Happy trading!
