Tuesday, May 13, 2014

May 13 Premarket Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

Here are 10 things you should know for Tuesday, May 13:

1. -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a flat to higher open and European shares were rising after Wall Street hit record highs.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 2% as the yen weakened. China's Shanghai Composite index fell 0.1% after data suggested that growth decelerated in April, though at levels still considered robusr.

2. -- The economic calendar in the U.S. on Tuesday includes retail sales for April at 8:30 a.m. EDT, and export and import prices for April at 8:30 a.m. Business inventories for March will be released at 10 a.m.

3. -- U.S. stocks on Monday rose, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at all-time highs as technology shares rebounded.

The Dow added 0.68% to close at 16,695.47, while the S&P 500 jumped 0.97% to 1,896.65. The Nasdaq surged 1.77% to 4,143.86. Small caps as measured by the Russell 2000 were up more than 2% for their biggest one-day gain in more than a month.

4. -- Pfizer (PFE) reached out to AstraZeneca's (AZN) stockholders ahead of a hearing before British lawmakers, publishing a presentation in which the U.S. drugmaker described a "compelling rationale for a combination" with AstraZeneca.

"Pfizer wishes to enter into discussions with AstraZeneca regarding a potential combination of the two companies and remains disappointed at the lack of engagement by the AstraZeneca Board," a statement from Pfizer said.

Pfizer did say, however, that it would remain "disciplined on price."

Pfizer has offered to buy AstraZeneca for $106 billion in cash and stock but London-based AstraZeneca has rebuffed three approaches since January. 5. -- AT&T (T) is close to sealing a takeover of DirecTV  (DTV) that could put a value of nearly $50 billion on the satellite-television provider, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. The two sides are discussing a deal that would involve a mix of cash and AT&T stock, the people said.  AT&T would likely pay a premium to DirecTV's share price Monday, one of the people said. An agreement could be reached in two weeks if not sooner, according to the people, the Journal reported.

DirecTV shares fell 1% to $87.16 on Monday. The two companies are discussing a price in the low to mid-nineties per share, one of the people told the newspaper. 6. -- A European court ruled Tuesday that Google (GOOG) must amend some of its search results at the request of ordinary people when they show links to outdated, irrelevant information. In an advisory judgment stemming from a Spanish case, the Court of Justice of the European Union said Google and other search engines do have control of individuals' private information, given that they sometimes compile and present links to it in a systematic way. The court found that under European law individuals have a right to control over their private data, especially if they aren't public figures. If they want irrelevant or wrong personal information about themselves "forgotten" from search engine results, they have the right to request it, even if the information was legally published. 7. -- New York state's banking regulator is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from Credit Suisse (CS) in its probe of potential tax evasion involving the Swiss bank, Reuters reported, citing sources close to the matter. The eventual settlement with U.S. authorities could top $2 billion, Reuters reported. The New York regulator made an opening bid of $1 billion, one of the sources said, though negotiations are expected to significantly drive down the final penalty amount. The settlement with the New York State Department of Financial Services would be in addition to the fine that Credit Suisse is discussing with the U.S. Justice Department. Reuters reported last week that the Justice Department is seeking as much as $1.6 billion from the bank. 8. -- Take-Two Interactive Software  (TTWO) is forecast by analysts to report on Tuesday fiscal-fourth-quarter earnings of 10 cents a share on revenue of $202.5 million. 9. -- Citizens Financial Group, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), filed Monday for an initial public offering that would raise $100 million. RBS said last year it would sell 20% to 25% of Citizens by the end of 2014 through an IPO in the U.S. as the bank faces pressure from British regulators to bolster its capital and sell off non-core assets, according to Reuters.

10. -- Facebook (FB) is taking steps to open a sales office in China to work with local advertisers, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported. The move would put Facebook's employees in the country for the first time, even as its the social network remains censored in China. -- Written by Joseph Woelfel To contact the writer of this article, click here:Joseph Woelfel To submit a news tip, send an email to:tips@thestreet.com.

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Stock quotes in this article: PFT, DTV, T, AZN, GOOG, CS, TTWO, RBS, FB 

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