Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk
U.S. stocks come off their biggest weekly losses in more than four months as earnings season begins to kick into high gear. The S&P 500 sits at its lowest point since September 4 and the Nasdaq is at a two-month low.
September retail sales kick off this week’s economic reports, with economists looking for a 0.7 percent increase following August’s 0.9 percent increase. That number is out at 8:30 a.m. New York time, along with the New York Fed’s Empire State index of manufacturing activity. Consensus forecasts call for a reading of -4 for October, a less negative reading than September’s -10.41.
At 10 a.m., August business inventories are seen rising 0.5 percent, following July’s 0.8 percent increase.
Citigroup (C) headlines today’s corporate earnings, with Citi’s numbers due out at 8 a.m. Gannett (GCI) is also set to issue its quarterly numbers this morning.
Sprint (S) leads our list of stocks to watch, with Japan’s Softbank announcing it would buy up to 70 percent of Sprint for $20 billion dollars. That follows reports last week that Softbank was considering such an investment.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is a stock to watch today, with AllThingsD reporting that the chipmaker will announce workforce reductions of up to 30 percent this week. That follows an earnings report last week that fell well short of Street estimates.
Microsoft (MSFT) is planning to offer on-demand streaming music for free on its new tablet computer. The new feature is called Xbox music, and will offer a pay option for downloading songs and saving them for online playback.
BlackRock (BLK) shares are undervalued, according to an article in this weekend’s Barron’s. The paper says the firm has been improving its equity fund performance, and is working on plans to cut fees for its ETFs.
Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) are in the spotlight this week, as they plan to ask a judge to approve a $7.2 billion settlement over credit card fees. But a number of merchants are opposed to the deal, saying it forces merchants to give up valuable legal rights.
The two largest U.S. pension funds, CALPERS and CALSTRS are reportedly voting to oust Rupert Murdoch as chairman of News Corp. (NWSA), as the company prepares for its annual shareholders meeting this week. The meeting is set for tomorrow in Los Angeles.
Ebay’s (EBAY) PayPal unit is planning to cut as much as 3 percent of its workforce, according to Reuters. The cuts would be focused on the areas of product development, technology, and marketing.
Amazon.com (AMZN) says customers who own the company’s Kindle e-readers are entitled to refunds on past purchases, if a judge approves a settlement with publishers in a price fixing case. Refunds could total between 30 cents and $1.32 per book.
Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI) has received FDA approval to sell a generic version of Sanofi’s (SNY) Avapro, which is used to treat high blood pressure as well as diabetes-related kidney disease.
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