10 things you need to know before the opening bell
Greece says it will miss its next IMF payment without a new bailout. Reuters reports Parliamentary speaker and Syriza politician Nikos Filis announced on TV, "If there is no deal by then [June 5] that will address the current funding problem, they won't get any money." The embattled government must make a $339 million debt payment on June 5, and three other debt payments in the two weeks following. Greece's 2-year yield is down 4 basis points at 22.22%.
Japan GDP topped estimates. The world's third largest economy expanded at a 0.6% quarter-over-quarter clip, outpacing the 0.4% QoQ growth that was expected. The annualized growth rate of 2.4% was well above the 1.5% that economists were looking for. Japan's yen is lower by 0.2% at 120.96.
The Bank of England minutes showed the vote to keep policy on hold was unanimous. Monetary Policy Committee members voted 9-to-0 in favor of keeping the benchmark interest rate at 0.50% and the asset purchase program at 375 billion pounds. All MPC members agreed an interest rate hike is the next move the central bank will make. The British pound is up 0.1% at 1.5525.
Five big banks are expected to be fined more than $5 billion for rigging Fx markets. UBS paid $545 million to settle allegations the investment bank manipulated currency markets and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Four other banks, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are expected to plead guilty on Wednesday to rigging currency markets.
Time Warner was approached about a takeover. The cable giant was approached by Altice about a deal after Time Warner's merger with Comcast was called off. A source told Bloomberg, "Deliberations on a deal are at an early stage and may not result in an agreement." Time Warner's market cap of $45 billion makes it larger than the $34 billion of Altice.
Computer Sciences is splitting into two publicly traded companies. The company announced it will separate its government and commercial businesses. The news came as the company announced earnings of $1.26 per share and revenue that slumped 12.6% from a year ago to $2.91 billion. Computer Sciences said it will pay a special dividend of $10.50 a share.
Lowe's missed on the bottom line. The home improvement retailer earned $0.70 per share, which fell short of the $0.74 Wall Street was expecting. Revenue edged up 5.4% versus a year ago to $14.13 billion, in-line with the $14.26 billion that was anticipated. Lowe's reaffirmed its full year 2016 earnings per share guidance of $3.29, missing the $3.31 estimate.
Etsy posted a huge loss. The Brooklyn-based online craft marketplace announced a loss of $0.84 per share. Revenue surged 44.4% to $58.5 million, slightly outpacing the $58 million that was anticipated. "At the end of the first quarter of 2015, the Etsy community included more than 1.4 million active sellers and 20.8 million active buyers. We made progress down our path to make Etsy an everyday experience, build local marketplaces, globally, offer high-impact seller services, and expand the Etsy economy," CEO Chad Dickerson said in a release. The stock was down as much as 18% in after-hours trade.
Global stock markets trade mixed. Japan's Nikkei (+0.8%) led the advance in Asia and Italy's MIB (-0.3%) paces the decline in Europe.
US economic data is light. Crude oil inventories will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET. The minutes from the April FOMC meeting will cross the wires at 2 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is off 2 basis points at 2.27%.