MARKET CURRENTS
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MARKET CURRENTS
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Today - Tuesday, May 22
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9:15 AM Market preview: Stock futures are mixed and Europe is all green, with neither seeming to be particularly affected by Fitch's downgrade of Japan. S&P Benchmark +0.1%. Best Buy shot up over 8% following earnings but fell just as rapidly and is now just +0.2%. Facebook's (-3.3%) slide continues, while Express plummets 23% following a profit warning. Later: Richmond Fed Mfg., Existing Home Sales Comment!
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9:02 AM Google (GOOG) closes its $12.5B acquisition of Motorola Mobility (MMI), which remains a separate business. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha has stepped down and been replaced by "long-time Googler" Dennis Woodside, who was President of Google's Americas region and who has already initiated an executive shakeup at Motorola. (PR) Comment!
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5:15 AM The IMF says the U.K. should consider cutting interest rates and more quantitative easing. The country should prepare a Plan B for deficit reduction if those measures don't work. 2 Comments
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5:06 AM Fitch downgrades Japan to A+, outlook negative. "The country's fiscal consolidation plan looks leisurely relative even to other fiscally-challenged high-income countries, and implementation is subject to political risk." 1 Comment
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4:30 AM Greece's banking system is being propped up by ~€100B of emergency liquidity provided by the country's central bank and quietly approved by the ECB, according to a report in the Financial Times. An ECB decision to pull the plug could potentially prompt a Greek exit from the eurozone. 1 Comment
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4:22 AM Coming from the OECD's live twitter stream, "we need decisive policy action now" but "we're aware of the political economy of some of these problems. The scope for macro-economic policy is virtually exhausted." The OECD released its revised economic outlook just moments ago, warning the recovery is both fragile and uneven. (more) 2 Comments
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4:15 AM The OECD cuts its 2012 eurozone GDP forecast to -0.1% from +0.2%; U.S. forecast raised to +2.4% from +2%; China to come in at +8.2% this year, +9.3% next year; Greece -5.3% this year, -1.3% next year; Japan +2% this year, +1.5% next year. Joins calls for eurozone bonds. (OECD economic outlook report) Comment!
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3:29 AM Blackstone (BX) will buy Accor's troubled U.S. budget hotel business for $1.9B. Accor, a French hotel group, is trying to focus on growth outside the U.S., while Blackstone wants to invest "significant capital" in Motel 6 properties to "accelerate the expansion of the franchise base." Comment!
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