10 things you need to know today
InBev wants to buy SABMiller. SABMiller shares are up 23% in premarket trade after Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, approached the company about a takeover. SABMiller, the world's second-largest brewer, acknowledged that InBev had told it about plans to make an offer, but it noted no proposal had been received. According to the Financial Times, the deal could be valued at up to $250 billion.
FedEx to hike shipping rates. The shipping behemoth announced an across-the-board rate increase of 4.9%, beginning January 4. The rate increases matches the 4.9% increase that was announced a year ago. FedEx will report its quarterly results around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
Glencore sold stock to reduce its debt load. The commodities giant announced it was selling up to 1.3 billion shares of stock to pay down some of its $30 billion in debt. The share sale will raise $2.5 billion, with Glencore executives already personally gobbling up 22%, or about $550 million, of the sale. The rest of the share sale will occur on September 21. Glencore hopes to pay off its debt by sometime in 2016.
The chances of a Fed rate hike move upward. The probability of a Fed rate hike in September is up to 32% from Monday's reading of 28%. Furthermore, the market suggests a 62% chance at least one rate hike will occur in 2015. The Fed's two-day meeting begins Wednesday, with the announcement coming at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday.
S&P downgraded Japan. Standard and Poor's cut Japan's credit rating to A+ from AA-. The rating agency noted, "We believe the likelihood of an economic recovery in Japan strong enough to restore economic support for sovereign creditworthiness commensurate with our previous assessment has diminished." It continued, "Despite showing initial promise, we believe that the government's economic revival strategy - dubbed "Abenomics" - will not be able to reverse this deterioration in the next two to three years." The Japanese yen is little changed at 120.55 per dollar.
UK wages are rising, and the unemployment rate is falling. Wages in the UK rose 2.9% year-over-year, matching economists' forecasts and making for the largest increase since 2009. The UK economy received more good news as the unemployment rate fell to 5.5%, its lowest level since 2008. Economists were anticipating the rate to hold at 5.6%. The British pound is stronger by 0.6% at 1.5428.
Eurozone CPI slowed. Eurozone Final CPI was revised down to up 0.1% YoY from the previous look of up 0.2%. Core prices, which strip out food and energy costs, rose 0.9% YoY, a slight downgrade from the prior reading of 1.0%. The euro is down 0.5% at 1.1218.
Stock markets around the globe are higher. China's Shanghai Composite (+4.9%) was unchanged until a final-hour surge catapulted it to the top of Asia's leaderboard. In Europe, France's CAC (+1.1%) paces the gains. S&P 500 futures are down 2.75 points at 1,967.25.
US economic data and earnings reports flow. CPI is due out at 8:30 a.m. ET and is followed by the NAHB Housing Market Index at 10 a.m. ET and net long-term TIC flows at 4 p.m. ET. Crude-oil inventories are set for a 10:30 a.m. release. On the earnings front, FedEx reports ahead of the opening bell, and Oracle releases its quarterly results after the close.