Before the bell: Futures lower on oil, Fannie and Freddie; GE meetsToday is the day. Today Apple Inc.(NASDAQ: AAPL)'s new 3G iPhone went on sale. Many countries will now be able to join the iPhone mania, selling the handset to eagerly awaiting customers. Most notably, Japan,Australia and Hong Kong are part of the 22 nations rollout.
Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) shares are surging 4% in premarket trading after The New York Times reported deal with InBev is now near. Not only that, but it seems the talks are of a friendly deal. This is quite a change from the recent law suits between the two after A-B rejected the Belgian brewer's $46 billion, or $65-a-share, takeover offer.
Shares of MasterCard (NYSE: MA) are rising 3.5% in premarket trading on news that the company will be added to the S&P 500 Index on July 17 in place of ACE Ltd. (NYSE: ACE). Shares of ACE are down over 5%.
Wynn (NASDAQ: WYNN) shares are soaring nearly 13.5% in premarket trading after the company said it expects second-quarter operating income in Macau to double and Las Vegas operating income to drop by more than 50%. Wynn has also boosted its share buyback program by up to $500 million. Shares of competitor Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) rose 5.8% and shares of MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) surged 5.2% after tumbling during Thursday's session.
Another deal in the chemicals industry: Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) said it's agreed to acquire Hercules Inc. (NYSE: HRC) for about $3.3 billion in cash and stock. This works out to $23.01 a share, a premium of about 38% over Thursday closing price.
Closing Bell: Economic Catapult for Thanksgiving & Black Friday (WMT, TGT, GRMN, GOOG, MSFT)
Deere up on Q4 earnings performance
Reid Hoffman: LinkedIn will go public (at some point)
