10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell
Battle For Botox. Valeant Pharmaceuticals just increased the cash portion of its offer to buy out Botox-maker Allergan. The company is now offering $58.30 in cash per share, up from a previous offer of $48.30.
REPORT: Beats Deal On, But Lower. The New York Post's Claire Atkinson reports the Apple-Beats deal is definitely on, but that the price is now just $3 billion instead of the $3.2 billion reported by the FT.
Google Unveils Self-Driving Car. Google announced it would be building its self-driving cars from scratch. "It's a little pod that has no steering wheel, and only goes 25 miles per hour, but it's a step towards a future with driverless cars," BI's Jay Yarow says.
GE In France. GE upped the stakes in its bid acquire the power division of French conglomerate Alstom, promising more new jobs and saying it would leave certain subdivisions in Alstom's control. "Today we can see that GE's offer has been detailed, improved, strengthened," an official in President Francois Hollande's office told Reuters, adding, however, that there was still "some work to be done".
Skype Translation. Microsoft announced it is launching a real-time translation service through Skype. It sounds amazing. "On stage, an English-speaking Skype executive, Gurdeep Pall, called up a German-speaking Skype executive, Diana Heinrichs. They held a 5-minute conversation. The first executive would say something in English. Then, after a pause, the a computer voice would repeat what he said, but in German. Then the German executive would speak in German. After a pause, the computer spoke in English."
German Unemployment. The number of unemployed in Germany unexpectedly surged to 23,937; forecasts were for a decline of about 15,000. BI's Joe Weisenthal says it may have been due to weather, but that it could also further nudge the ECB into lowering rates.
EZ Money Supply. Speaking of ECB, the Eurozone's M3 money supply grew less than 1%, the lowest reading since 2010 - a further sign of possible deflation.
No Major Econ Data Today. Sorry about that. However, the not-so-closely-followed weekly MBA mortgage applications report showed that mortgage rates, purchase applications, and refinancings all fell last week.
Markets. Stocks were mostly up around the world. The yield on Spain's 10-year note fell to a record low 2.827%.
Goldman's World Cup Call. Goldman puts the odds of Brazil winning at nearly 1:1, mostly thanks to their talent and home-field advantage.