Premarket: 6 things to know before the bell
1. Facebook’s Wall Street test: Facebook will face the investors for the first time since the Cambridge Analytica scandal erupted.
The social media firm will report its first-quarter earnings after the closing bell. CEO Mark Zuckerberg will then answer analysts’ questions on a conference call.
Analysts are concerned about how much an ongoing backlash among users, advertisers and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic could slow down a company once viewed as unstoppable.
The consensus estimate among analysts is for Facebook’s (FB) sales for the first three months of 2018 to hit $ 11.4 billion, up more than 40% from the same period a year earlier.
2. Credit Suisse soars: Shares in Credit Suisse (CSGKF) jumped over 4% after the Swiss bank reported stronger than expected first quarter earnings.
The bank has been trying to overhaul itself after suffering three consecutive years of annual losses and paying huge fines for its involvement in packaging and selling toxic mortgages before the global financial crisis.
The turnaround plan, now near the end of its third year, is finally paying off.
3. Shire takeover saga: Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda (TKPHF) has upped its bid to buy Dublin-based biotech company Shire to £46 billion ($ 64.3 billion).
Shire said in a statement that its board would be willing to recommend the offer to the company’s shareholders, providing certain conditions are met.
Takeda shares dropped 7% in Tokyo on Wednesday. They’re down about 20% since the company first revealed it was considering an approach for Shire just under a month ago.
Shire(SHPG) stock gained 1% in London.
4. Global market overview: US stock futures were pointing lower, suggesting the Dow’s longest losing streak in a year may be extended.
Major markets in Europe and Asian were down.
The Dow plunged 1.7% on Tuesday. The S&P 500 declined 1.3% and the Nasdaq dropped 1.7%.
The 10-year Treasury yield touched 3% for the first time in four years on Tuesday.
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5. Companies and economics: It’s another big day for earnings.
Anthem(ANTM), Boeing (BA), Boston Scientific (BSX), Brinks (BCO), Comcast (CMCSA), Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS), Goodyear Tire (GT), NASDAQ (NDAQ), Sirius XM Radio (SIRI), T. Rowe Price (TROW), Tupperware (TUP), Twitter (TWTR), and Viacom (VIAB) will release their earnings before the open. AT&T (T), Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), eBay (EBAY), Equifax (EFX), Ford Motor (F), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), O’Reilly Auto (ORLY), PayPal (PYPL), and Visa (V) will follow after the close.
Whitbread, the UK owner of Premier Inn, has announced plans to spin off its coffee chain Costa. Whitbread claims Costa is the world’s second biggest coffee chain after Starbucks (SBUX).
The Energy Information Administration will publish its weekly US crude inventories report at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Oil prices have surged in recent weeks. The commodity was trading at $ 67.76 per barrel on Wednesday.
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6. Coming this week:
Wednesday — AT&T, Boeing, Chipotle, Comcast, Dr Pepper Snapple, Facebook and Twitter earnings
Thursday — Time Warner, American Airlines, Dunkin’ Brands, General Motors, PepsiCo, Starbucks and Southwest earnings
Friday — Exxon earnings; Q1 GDP
