Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk
There’s been a perceptible shift in U.S. stock market sentiment over the past few sessions: the Dow broke a streak of nine straight Monday losses, and despite a last hour selloff, the major averages managed to follow Friday’s big rally with small gains yesterday — and futures are, at least so far, pointing to a higher open this morning.
The economic calendar is relatively light today, although investors will take note of the Labor Department’s monthly JOLTS report, the measure of job openings and labor turnover. That report — for the month of June — will be out at 10 a.m. New York time.
Also on today’s calendar: the Treasury will sell $32 billion in 3-year notes, with the results available shortly after 1 p.m. New York time, and the government will issue June consumer credit figures at 3 p.m. New York time, with economists expecting an increase of $10 billion. In May, consumer credit had risen by $17.1 billion.
Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will give a speech on financial education in Washington at 2:30pm today. The event will take place at Federal Reserve headquarters.
Among this morning’s notable earnings reports set to be issued: Cablevision (CVS), CVS Caremark (CVS), Sirius XM Radio (SIRI), Molson Coors (TAP), and Tenet Healthcare (THC). Dow component Walt Disney (DIS) is the premiere after-the-bell earnings report, with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin interviewing Disney CEO Bob Iger live shortly thereafter. We’ll also hear from Express Scripts (ESRX) and Priceline.com (PCLN) this afternoon.
Caesars Entertainment (CZR) is a stock to watch, after posting a wider than expected second quarter loss. The casino operator wrote down the value of its land in Macau, and saw flat revenue at its key U.S. casinos compared to a year earlier.
Leap Wireless (LEAP) may also be under pressure today, as its quarterly revenue came in well below estimates. It also posted a loss of $0.54 per share, four cents wider than analysts had anticipated. That comes a month after competitor MetroPCS (PCS) reported better than expected earnings last month.
Chevron (CVX) saw a massive fire strike its Richmond, California refinery, which could mean a prolonged outage and higher gasoline prices. Chevron says the fire is now contained, though not out as of this hour.
Chesapeake Energy (CHK) earned $0.06 per share for the second quarter, a penny shy of consensus, although revenue was above Street forecasts. The company also increased its target for asset sales this year.
CF industries (CF) reported a second quarter profit of $8.65 per share, excluding certain items, short of estimates of $8.91. The fertilizer producer saw demand for its products fall, following a boom in the spring planting season during February and March. CF, however, says it expects that sales drop to be only temporary.
Best Buy (BBY) remains on the watch list, after rising yesterday on founder Richard Schulze’s proposal to buy out the electronics chain for $24 to $26 per share. Fitch has now downgraded Best Buy’s rating to the junk status of BB+ from the prior BBB- because of weakening sales and profit margin pressures.
Pfizer (PFE) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) make the watch list, as the two abandon further studies of their Alzheimer’s treatment. The drug did not help patients in a late stage clinical trial. Johnson & Johnson says it will take a charge of between $300 million and $400 million in the third quarter as a result. The move also affects partner Elan (ELN), which is taking a $117.3 million writedown related to the study halt.
Investor Nelson Peltz has cut his stake in Ingersoll-Rand (IR) to 6.8 percent from the prior 7.05 percent stake, according to an SEC filing. The manufacturer says it remains in talks with Peltz about possible strategic options for the company.
Sprint Nextel (S) has cut the price of the iPhone 4S by $50 to $149. That comes ahead of a September 12th event, at which Apple (AAPL) is widely expected to introduce the next iPhone.
Eastman Kodak (EKDKQ) received opening bids for its digital patents that were well below the $2.6 billion that it was expecting, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper says bids from two groups — one led by Apple (AAPL), the other by Google (GOOG) — came in at around $150 million to $200 million.
Dreamworks Animation (DWA) is opening a movie studio and a theme park in Shanghai, in conjunction with Chinese partners. Dreamworks will own 45 percent, according to the Journal, as the company seeks to build its presence in a fast-growing Chinese movie market.
Amazon.com (AMZN) has announced the creation of Amazon Game Studios, and released its first social game on Facebook (FB). That puts Amazon squarely in competition with Zynga (ZNGA), creator of the popular Farmville and other games.
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