After nearly erasing all of Monday gains on Tuesday, it seems investors were going to try again today. U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open as Wall Street eyes are all focused on Lehman Brothers and whether it could calm investors' concerns somewhat. But after the Lehman announcement came out, stocks turned mostly to red. Meanwhile, oil prices rose Wednesday after OPEC said it would cut output, ahead of weekly inventory data. And in Europe, the European Commission cut its growth estimate for the euro area this year.Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH), which caused great concern yesterday and its stock plunged 45%, said it will announce its Q3 results today, a week early, in an attempt to calm investor concern about its capital needs following the failed talks with Korean Development Bank. Lehman will also outline plans to shore up its balance sheet. It could spin-off its prized investment management business and sell devalued mortgage assets. Already the stock is up nearly 25% in pre-market trading as of 7:20 am. Lehman has just announced a $3.9 billion loss during the third quarter due to wrong-way bets on mortgage securities and other risky assets.
Another deal that fell through caused GFI Group Inc. (NASDAQ: GFIG) tumbled 17% to $7.99 in extended trading yesterday. Tullett Prebon Plc, the second- biggest broker of transactions between banks, and GFI, the largest interdealer broker of credit derivatives trades, ended merger discussions after failing to reach an agreement on terms.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares closed nearly 4% down Tuesday after Steve Jobs, joking about the obit that was accidentally published, announced several new iPod models and a deal with NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE) to sell programming on the iTunes store. Despite the jokes, Jobs health remained in focus, and many say he looked better than in the previous event and more energetic. The market wasn't that impressed though with the event as most of the announcement were largely expected. AAPL shares have been trading up 1% in pre-market action.
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) shares are jumping 4% in pre-market trading after it raised late Tuesday its fiscal first-quarter earnings view. FedEx said that due to the recent drop in oil prices, its results will likely be better than it has previously forecast.
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) shares are also jumping this morning, up 5% in pre-market trading as the computer chip maker late Tuesday affirmed its that earnings and revenue for the current quarter were on track. Investors were relieved it did not cut its outlook.
Meanwhile, at Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) not all is well, it seems, as the first estimates of subscriber growth fell below some analysts' expectations. Still, the company increased its projection of how much money would be saved from its recently completed merger. Sirius gave a merger update Tuesday.
Analyst calls:
Meanwhile, at Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) not all is well, it seems, as the first estimates of subscriber growth fell below some analysts' expectations. Still, the company increased its projection of how much money would be saved from its recently completed merger. Sirius gave a merger update Tuesday.
Analyst calls:
- Banc of America upgraded Aetna (NYSE: AET) from Sell to Neutral.
- Keefe Bruyette downgraded Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) from Market Perform to Underperform.
- Bernstein downgraded Merck (NYSE: MRK) from Outperform to Market Perform.
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