U.S. stock index futures slumped Sunday evening, extending losses after markets closed lower in Friday's session.
Tonight, the Dow futures fell 83 points, or about 0.47% in New York and S&P 500 E-mini futures were down 0.47% as well. Nasdaq 100 E-mini futures were lower by 0.49%.
The euro fell 0.46% against the U.S. dollar, as news about Greece's failed negotiations dominated the headlines today. Greece failed to reach an agreement with creditors over terms of its bailout, ahead of a critical meeting with euro finance ministers on June 18.
"While some progress was made, the talks did not succeed as there remains a significant gap," the European Commission said in a text message, according to Bloomberg. "On this basis, further discussion will now have to take place in the Eurogroup."
"The shadow of a Greek exit from the euro zone is becoming increasingly perceptible," German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel wrote in an op-ed to be published in Bild on Monday in Germany. "Greece's game theorists are gambling the future of their country. And Europe's too."
Elsewhere abroad, Saudi Arabian stocks gained the most in two months a day before the Arab world's biggest bourse allows foreigners direct access, Bloomberg reported.
The value of Chinese stocks rose above $10 trillion for the first time, as companies with a primary listing in China were valued at $10.05 trillion, an increase of $6.7 trillion in 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Vedanta Resources, India's biggest diversified natural resources company, said Sunday it plans to merge Vedanta (VEDL) and the country's largest privately owned crude oil producer Cairn India in an all-share deal, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Alibaba (BABA) is planning to build China's version of Netflix (NFLX) and HBO via a new service called Tmall Box Office, which could be rolled out in about two months, Bloomberg reported.
Looking ahead in the U.S, the Federal Reserve holds its June meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday and, while a rate hike is not expected, investors will be listening carefully for any updates in the official statement released Wednesday afternoon.
Fears that the dollar is losing its allure are also weighing on markets ahead of the Fed meeting.
The WSJ Dollar Index, which gauges the greenback's value against a basket of 16 currencies, surged 5.9% in the first quarter and hit a 13-year high in March. For the second quarter, the index is down 1.9%.
The dollar's diminished allure reflects uncertainty about how aggressively the Fed can tighten monetary policy during an uneven economic recovery, Ira Iosebashvili and James Ramage wrote in the Journal. While the jobs market has remained strong and improved month to month, other aspects of the economy such as wage growth and inflation, remain muted. That will keep the Fed from raising borrowing costs very far, they say.
Because of a cloudier U.S. economic outlook, "the dollar's appreciation will be nothing like what we saw last year. It will be much gentler, more gradual," Collin Crownover, who oversees $125 billion as State Street's global head of currency management, told the Journal.
With that in mind, trading Monday could be muted in anticipation of the meeting. But one stock to watch is Comverse (CSNI). The company has surprised by more than 100% to the upside in the last two quarters, as it narrows its losses and becomes more profitable. For the first quarter, Comverse is expected to post a loss of 18 cents per share on revenue of $108 million. Also, in the red-hot cloud space, Comverse has been cited as a possible takeover target.
Adobe Systems (ADBE) reports quarterly results on Tuesday. The consensus estimates are $0.45 in earnings per share on $1.16 billion in revenue, according to Reuters. Expectations are tempered as the company transitions some of its business to a more investment-heavy cloud-computing model and faces industry headwinds with relatively weaker overall technology spending by businesses in an uncertain economy.
FedEx (FDX) reports on Wednesday. The consensus estimates call for $2.68 in EPS and $12.31 billion in revenue. Analysts at Cowen expect earnings and margins to improve due to the FedEx profit improvement. Originally, FedEx planned for $1.6 billion in annual operating profit improvement by the end of 2016. The profit improvement program should be higher with the lower jet fuel environment we are currently experiencing.
Also on Wednesday, Oracle (ORCL) will report. The consensus estimates call for EPS of $0.87 and $10.95 billion in revenue. We'll be watching to see if the company has been gaining more traction in its cloud business. Additionally, Oracle could benefit from a combination of stronger-than-expected sales in North America and an improving foreign exchange landscape, Brendan Barnicle, an analyst for Pacific Crest Securities wrote.
Thursday, we'll keep and eye on Kroger (KR) .The analysts' consensus estimates call for $1.22 in EPS and $33.35 billion in revenue. Kroger cut prices on natural and organic goods in the quarter in certain markets which have traditionally shown less demand for such goods. We'll look to see how effective the price cuts were in improving sales in the quarter.
Red Hat (RHT) and Rite Aid (RAD) also report Thursday.
The consensus estimates call for Red Hat to report $0.41 in EPS and $472.59 million in revenue. We'll be looking to see how much the stronger dollar weighs on sales.
The consensus estimates call for Rite Aid to report $0.03 in EPS on $6.65 billion in revenue. Thanks to strong prescription sales, the company is on track for a successful turnaround. Rite Aid has been remodeling stores and has struck a renewed agreement with McKesson (MCK) for sourcing and distribution. Analysts say Rite Aid's recent acquisition of EnvisionRx will help its expansion plan. Furthermore, Rite Aid could be an attractive target company for bigger players Walgreens (WBA) and CVS (CVS), We'll listen carefully to any comments on mergers and full- year forecast.
Fitbit (FIT), the wearable fitness tracking device maker goes public on Thursday and is expected to raise as much as $478 million, valuing the company at up to $3.28 billion. In this space, Fitbit will face off with Garmin (GRMN), Jawbone, Misfit, but also the biggest challenger of all: Apple (AAPL). The Apple Watch has a host of health-related features and apps and is part of a portfolio of products from one of the best overall companies around.
Darden Restaurants (DRI) reports fourth-quarter results on Friday. The Olive Garden restaurant chain owner is expected to report fourth-quarter profit and sales largely in line with market estimates, according to Reuters. We'll watch for further details on the company's property deals and cost-saving initiatives.
Separately, over the weekend, Barron's offered a slew of top stock picks to keep on your radar in its 2015 midyear roundtable.
Abby Joseph Cohen, senior investment strategist and president of the Global Markets Institute Goldman Sachs, had Action Alerts PLUS holding General Motors (GM) as one of her top picks. GM is trading at 8.3x 2015 estimated earnings and 6.7x 2016 estimates.
"Our estimates are a little lower than the consensus for this year -- $4.36 a share vs. $4.47 -- and a bit higher for next year. We're at $5.40 and the consensus is at $5.10," she said. Auto sales are the best they have been in several years and GM yields 3.8%, she added.
Actavis (ACT), another Action Alerts PLUS holding, was one of the top picks of Scott Black, founder and president of Delphi Management.
Revenue could jump almost 64% this year to $21.5 billion and earnings 28%,to $17.85 a share, Black said. Management has said free cash flow will reach $8 billion next year and that the company will realize $1.8 billion in cost savings from the Allergan deal. The net debt-to-equity ratio is 0.59. The interest-coverage ratio in the first quarter was 7.3x, he added.
Many other stocks were chosen by notable figures in the investment industry. Here are just a few more of the top picks, in case some of the names jump out at you and you want to read the full interviews: DuPont (DD), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Credit Suisse (CS), Toyota Motors (TM), Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA), ANI Pharmaceuticals (ANIP), Tiffany (TIF), Barrick Gold (ABX), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) and Honeywell (HON).
For even more information and analysis on data and reports in the week ahead, you can read this article from fellow Real Money contributors Chris Versace and Lenore Hawkins and reference The Street's weekly earnings calendar.
