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Monday, April 15, 2013

Schacknow - Today's Brief - April 15, 2013

US Stocks Seen Lower
Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk

The new week on Wall Street begins with the tax filing deadline looming at midnight, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq coming off their second best weekly gains of 2013. However, some lower-than-expected first quarter growth figures from China are pushing investor sentiment lower as we look ahead to the Monday session.

Today's economic calendar includes the New York Fed's Empire State Manufacturing Index for April at 8:30 a.m. ET, expected to drop to 6.7 for the month compared to March's 9.2. We'll also get the April sentiment index from the National Association of Home Builders at 10 a.m. ET, with economists looking for a slight increase to 45 from March's 44.

Financials are in focus on this morning's list of corporate earnings, led by Citigroup (C), Charles Schwab (SCHW), M&T Bank (MTB), and First Republic (FRC), while after-the-bell reports include the latest quarterly numbers from auto parts retailer Pep Boys (PBY).

Life Technologies (LIFE) leads our list of stocks to watch, with the maker of medical testing equipment reportedly close to a deal to be bought by Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) for nearly $13 billion dollars. Reuters reports the board of Life Technologies met over the weekend to review three takeover bids, choosing the Thermo Fisher offer over ones from Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL) and a private equity consortium consisting of Blackstone Group (BX), Carlyle Group (CG), KKR (KKR) and Temasek Holdings.

Boeing (BA) will have more than 1,000 of its 737 jets inspected to examine their tails for possibly faulty parts. The FAA says the problem could potentially cause pilots to lose control of an aircraft.

General Motors (GM) and Ford (GM) will work together to jointly design new fuel efficient transmissions, a move that could potentially save them millions of dollars.

Plantronics (PLT) CEO Ken Kannappan will take a four-month medical leave to receive treatment for cancer. Chief financial officer Pamela Strayer will be acting CEO for the headset manufacturer during Kannappan's leave.

Microsoft (MSFT) is said to be working on a touch-enabled watch device, according to the Wall Street Journal. Microsoft would join Apple (AAPL) and others in working on such a device.

Google (GOOG) has made a settlement proposal to European Union regulators, according to Dow Jones. The proposal involves changes to Google's search engine to answer concerns that it operates in an anti-competitive manner.

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