Indicators

Wake Up Call

Hello ! Dow Jones futures rose along with the major stock indexes Monday as Wall Street braced for a pair of speeches this week from Fed Chairman Powell. One of the big winners was Nvidia chipmaker TSMC, which jumped on the stock market today after a price-target hike.
WEEK AHEAD - US CPI data for June on Thursday, Fed Chair Powell's dual testimonies to Congress (Tuesday and Wednesday), the start of US earnings season (JPM, CITI, WFC, BofA on Friday).
POWELL TESTIMONY - to be closely watched. Investors will be looking for further clues on when the Fed plans to cut interest rates. Powell recently said the fight against inflation has made progress, but more is needed before the Fed can introduce rate cuts.

BOEING +1% agreed to plead guilty to criminal conspiracy to defraud the US after the DOJ concluded the planemaker failed to adhere to an earlier settlement stemming from two crashes of its 737 Max jetliner.
CONSUMER STAPLES FT reports that US food and packaged goods firms are facing limits on the extent they can now lift prices, and have been boosting discounts and promotions as consumer spending wanes. GENERAL MILLS and MONDELEZ have increased coupons and lower prices amid market challenges, while PROCTER & GAMBLE has emphasised brand reliability to sustain demand.
CORNING +7% prelim 2Q core Sales About $3.6b, Est. $3.41b. Raises Q2 EPS view to high end of previous 42c-46c range, consensus 45c.
MORPHIC +76% Eli Lilly agreed to buy co. for about $3.2bn or $57/sh to gain experimental therapies for inflammatory bowel disease and other chronic illnesses.
PARAMOUNT +3% agreed to merge with Skydance, handing control of a major Hollywood studio to David Ellison.
TESLA -1% Hedge funds piled into short bets against Tesla right before Co. unveiled a set of numbers that triggered a hefty share-price rally. Those contrarian bets now threaten to saddle the hedge funds behind them with losses.

ALPHABET Google is under pressure as a US judge prepares to rule on an antitrust lawsuit challenging its search engine dominance, particularly its default status on Apple's Safari browser, The Information report
DEVON ENERGY announces strategic acquisition in the Williston basin and expands share-repurchase authorisation by 67% to $5b
JOHNSON & JOHNSON has been cleared by the German Cartel Office to take over Shockwave Medical
MICROSOFT orders China employees to only use iPhones for work from September, cutting off Android devices from the workplace
R1 RCM holder TCP-ASC said it’s in the process of finalizing a proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of the revenue-management company that it doesn’t already own.
REGENERON sees Q2 net income/shr negatively impacted by $0.18/shr

UPGRADES

GILEAD SCIENCES upgraded to outperform from market perform at Raymond James on the potential for its HIV and liver disease treatments to drive growth.
KEYCORP UBS downgrades its rating to neutral from buy, with limited catalysts in play for the lender.
NVIDIA UBS raised its price target on the AI-focused chipmaker to $150 from $120. Maintains buy rating.

DOWNGRADES

BRINKER downgraded to outperform from strong buy at Raymond James, which believes the stock is approaching fair value but still has room for further upside.
SERVICENOW Guggenheim cut its rating to sell from neutra

INITIATIONS

8.00pm : US Consumer Credit

DIV EX DATE

Today : Edison International ($0.78); McCormick ($0.42); Micron Technology ($0.115); Quest Diagnostics ($0.75); Roper Technologies ($0.75); Walt Disney ($0.45)
Tomorrow : Salesforce ($0.40); Mastercard ($0.66); Dollar General ($0.59)