On Monday, bond markets will be closed for Columbus Day, while equity markets in the U.S. are open for trade. U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open as rising bond yields and growing interest rates made equities less attractive to investors. However, as trading opened, there was a quick bounce back.
Meanwhile, at the end of this week, we will see an unofficial start of the earnings season as major U.S. banks – JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and PNC Financial – are set to release their earnings on Friday.
Stock News
ENSCO PLC (NYSE:ESV) and Rowan Companies PLC (NYSE: RDC) have agreed to merge in an all-stock deal with an enterprise value of $12 billion. Under the deal, Rowan shareholders will receive 2.215 Ensco shares for each Rowan share. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019. In the pre- trading session, RDC was down 0.48% while ESV was down 2.24%. It is now up nearly 4% on the news.
Airbus SE (EPA: AIR) is set to appoint Guillaume Faury as its new CEO, according to The Wall Street Journal. Faury, who is president of Airbus’ commercial aircraft division, is going to replace Tom Enders, who is retiring in April 2019.
Shares of Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) were down 0.43% Monday morning in pre-trading after the retailing giant announced that it is partnering with movie studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer to create content for its video-on-demand service Vudu. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The stock has recovered as trading commenced, now up about 1% on the day.
Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHGE) has struck a deal with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) to acquire a 5% stake in ADNOC Drilling for $550 million. The transaction values ADNOC Drilling at about $11 billion. For the first time, ADNOC has brought an international strategic partner to acquire a direct equity stake in one of its existing services businesses. Shares of Baker Hughes are down 1.7% as of 10:15am EST.
Shares of General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) are down slightly as the automaker reported a drop in its quarterly sales in China. The automaker sold 835,934 vehicles in the third quarter ended September, down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) shares are up 1.7% after Barclays upgraded the company’s stock to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’. The firm has a 12-month price target of $16 on GE which was closed at $13.18 on Friday.
Shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR) are up over 10% after J.P. Morgan raised its rating on PBR to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’. The firm also upped its price target on Petrobras to $17.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) has appointed Patrick Grismer as its new CFO. Grismer replaces Scott Maw who will retire November 30. Currently, Grismer is CFO of Hyatt Hotels Corp. SBUX is up one half a percent on the day.