Thursday, June 12, 2008

Pre Market Trader Talk with Bob Pisani - CNBC.com

KeyCorp,

KeyCorp
KEY

15.71 UNCH 0%
NYSE




[KEY 15.71 --- UNCH (0%) ] which has been hitting new lows recently, cut its dividend in half and plans to raise $1.5 b in capital. The excuse here is an adverse court ruling on tax treatment, but no one is surprised, nor does anyone think they will be the last to cut dividends.

Analysts and technicians are understandably in despair over the wave of new lows in bank stocks. A Fox-Pitt banking analyst said this morning: "price action has failed to confirm any type of trend reversal thus far."

Also, late yesterday, Bernstein increased estimates for bank losses across most loan categories, including consumer and commercial loans.

Elsewhere:

1) Sign of the times: Senator Joseph Lieberman will propose that large institutional investors, including index funds, be banned from buying commodities, according to the New York Times. The hearing will be held June 24th. Not clear what this would cover: would it ban Commodity Index investing? ETFs? I presume not, but in this environment, we will have to wait for clarification.

2) InBev finally made the bid for Anheuser Busch

Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc
BUD

58.35 UNCH 0%
NYSE




[BUD 58.35 --- UNCH (0%) ] : $65 per share, all cash, to be financed in the form of +$40 billion in debt and the sale of non-core assets (theme parks?). Remember, they are using Euros here...just like the hoards of tourists descending on New York buying up real estate and Tiffany baubles.

Next: can the Anheuser board generate a higher price, or convince everyone they can generate greater or equal value by staying independent? Given that the stock has jumped from $50 to $58 precisely on the takeover speculation, that is indeed a tall order.

3) Irish vote on the Euro/European Union today.

4) Citi closes down Old Lane hedge fund and take $9 billion on its balance sheet;

5) Quote of the day: Bank of America

Bank of America Corp
BAC

28.85 UNCH 0%
NYSE




[BAC 28.85 --- UNCH (0%) ] CEO Ken Lewis, speaking at the Deals and Deal Makers conference, said " we're not interested in using our petty cash to buy any investment banks." Smack.

6) Our Charlie Gasparino is reporting that Lehman [LEH 23.75 --- UNCH (0%) ] CFO Erin Callan has resigned, along with COO Joseph Gregory; down 5 percent pre-open.
"Despair" Over Financials And Lehman's Now Ex-Execs - Trader Talk with Bob Pisani - CNBC.com

Opening View: Belgium Brewer InBev's Bid for Anheuser-Busch Lifts Futures

U.S. stock futures are higher heading into the open, indicative of a potentially positive start to the regular session. In overseas trading, higher oil prices and strength in the yen were pressuring exporters lower in Japan, while European markets were seen cheering an upgrade for BP. In focus this morning are merger-and-acquisition news from InBev and Anheuser-Busch, as well as a trifecta of financial-related news from Thornburg Mortgage, KeyCorp, and Morgan Stanley.

Cheers! After much speculation, Belgium beverage maker InBev last night launched an unsolicited takeover bid for beer behemoth Anheuser-Busch ( BUD: View sentiment for BUDsentiment, chart, options) . InBev has offered to pay $65 per share for BUD (the stock closed Wednesday at $58.35), valuing the firm at $46.3 billion. In pre-market trading, the shares of BUD are poised to open significantly higher near the $63.25 level. This is a cash deal

Leading financial-sector headlines, Thornburg Mortgage (TMA: View sentiment for TMAsentiment, chart, options) reported a first-quarter net loss of $3.31 billion, or $20.64 per share, compared to a net profit of $75 million, or 62 cents per share, a year ago. The loss reflects unrealized market-value losses of $1.54 billion due to the decaying fair-market value of mortgage-related securities. The financial firm also stated that it raised $1.35 billion in capital, and has entered a financing accord with some of its lenders, MarketWatch reported.

Meanwhile, KeyCorp (KEY: View sentiment for KEYsentiment, chart, options) this morning announced that it will raise roughly $1.5 billion in new equity to offset its expected second-quarter charge of $1.1 billion - $1.2 billion. The bank also revealed plans to halve its dividend to an annualized payout of 75 cents per share, starting in the third quarter.

Finally, rounding out the financials trifecta, Morgan Stanley (MS) analysts upped their stance on U.S. financials to "neutral" from "underweight." The brokerage attributed the revision to "an improvement in a number of underlying drivers: a steepening in the yield curve, a swing from positive to negative real fed funds, [and] a significant decline in property prices." What's more, MS stated that rising oil prices are beginning to hurt the energy sector, replacing Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and Emerson Electric (EMR) with J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and American International Group (AIG) in its model portfolio.


Opening View: Belgium Brewer InBev's Bid for Anheuser-Busch Lifts Futures

NYSE Arca Morning Update - Pre Market Trading

Stocks trading on NYSE Arca at a price more than 15% away from the previous trade day's consolidated close price. (As of 08:30:00 ET)

Stock
Wednesday's Close Current Price Pct Chng Current NYSE Arca Vol
CMED

$33.28

$40.00

20%

34,118

10 Most Active stocks on NYSE Arca as of 08:30:00 ET

Based on Dollar Volume: Based on Share Volume:
Stock
Dollar Volume
SPY
$307,148,313
BUD
$46,629,620
QQQQ
$39,330,698
IWM
$23,927,528
DIA
$17,321,565
BHP
$17,268,584
AAPL
$9,761,974
XLF
$9,238,234
USO
$8,742,559
GLD
$5,892,150
Stock
Share Volume
SPY
2,276,327
QQQQ
824,457
BUD
737,693
XLF
405,950
IWM
330,791
BHP
214,287
DIA
142,130
LEH
108,676
ALU
106,701
USO
80,479


CMED:


NYSE Arca Morning Update

Pre Market Trading Analyst Calls

  • Archer-Daniels (NYSE: ADM) cut to Hold at Citigroup.
  • ASM Intl NV (NASDAQ: ASMI) started as Underperform at Jefferies.
  • China Netcom (NYSE: CN) and China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  • Fortress Investment (NYSE: FIG) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Franklin Resources (NYSE: BEN) raised to Outperform at KBW.
  • Martha Stewart (NYSE: MSO) cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • Nortel (NYSE: NT) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  • Ryland Group (NYSE: RYL) raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Teradyne (NYSE: TER) started as Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
  • VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE) cut to Sell at Citigroup.


24/7 Wall St.

Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems to Combine IVGN ABI

Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems to Combine
Thursday June 12, 8:12 am ET


Strategic Combination Creates Premier Provider of Biotechnology Reagents and Systems

Transaction Valued at $6.7 Billion

CARLSBAD, Calif. & FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Invitrogen Corporation (NASDAQ: IVGN - News) and Applera Corporation today announced that their Boards of Directors have approved a definitive merger agreement, under which Invitrogen will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Appleras Applied Biosystems Group (NYSE: ABI - News) in a cash and stock transaction valued at $6.7 billion.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Applera-Applied Biosystems shareholders will receive $38.00 for each share of Applera-Applied Biosystems stock they own in the form of Invitrogen common stock and cash. The expected split between cash and stock is 45% and 55%, respectively. Applera-Applied Biosystems shareholders will receive a value of $38.00 a share if the 20 day volume-weighted average price of Invitrogen common stock is in the range of $43.69 - $46.00 three business days prior to the close of the transaction. The total value per share will differ if Invitrogens 20 day volume-weighted average price is above or below that range, measured shortly prior to the close of the transaction. The consideration represents a premium of 17% to Applied Biosystemss closing price on June 11, 2008, or 12% to Applied Biosystemss average closing price in the last 30 trading days. Applera-Applied Biosystems shareholders also will have the option to request all cash or all stock, subject to possible proration. Upon completion of the transaction, Invitrogen shareholders will own the majority of the company.

Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems to Combine: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Pre-Market Trading Most Active Stocks - NASDAQ Premarket

NASDAQ - Pre-Market Ten Most Advanced

Active Share Volume Declined

Symbol

Company Name

Market
Close
Last Sale (Pre-Market) % Change
(Pre-Market)
Share
Volume

(Pre-Market)

China Medical Technologies, Inc.
$33.44 $39.68 18.66% 28,216

Level 3 Communications, Inc.
$3.70 $3.86 4.32% 10,250

Geron Corporation
$3.90 $4.05 3.85% 3,500

Shire Limited
$45.89 $47.50 3.51% 19,464

UAL Corporation
$7.22 $7.45 3.19% 7,600

E*TRADE Financial Corporation
$3.50 $3.56 1.71% 28,544

Evergreen Solar, Inc.
$9.15 $9.30 1.64% 3,550

NVIDIA Corporation
$21.25 $21.55 1.41% 9,590

First Solar, Inc.
$253.19 $256.47 1.30% 6,648

Research in Motion Limited
$131.79 $133.40 1.22% 12,000

As of 6/12/2008 8:13:56 AM

NASDAQ - Pre-Market Ten Most Declined

Active Share Volume Advanced

Symbol

Company Name

Market
Close
Last Sale (Pre-Market) % Change
(Pre-Market)
Share
Volume

(Pre-Market)

National CineMedia, Inc.
$18.46 $16 13.33% 5,600

Royale Energy, Inc.
$8.94 $8.55 4.36% 10,200

Acergy S.A.
$24.31 $23.78 2.18% 3,600

Blue Coat Systems Inc
$16.72 $16.39 1.97% 4,754

As of 6/12/2008 8:13:57 AM


Pre-Market Most Active Stocks - NASDAQ Premarket

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