US pre-open: Facebook shares drop below IPO price
Mon 21 May 2012
Today´s session is expected to open with a slight bounce higher, on the back of 'market chatter' regarding possible new policy stimulus measures in China and Europe.
Acting as a back-drop the most talked about subject is the fact that shares of Facebook are trading below their IPO price, with analysts invariably talking of a 'bubble' in shares of the social media giant or of 'signals' of a market top.
Other stocks that are making some big pre-market moves are Yahoo and Lowe´s.
The first of those is rallying by 6% after Alibaba agreed to re-purchase a stake in itself for $7.1bn. Stock in Lowe´s Cos., on the other hand, is plummeting 6% after the home improvement retailer whittled down its full-year net profit forecasts, to a range of $1.73 to $1.83 from $1.75 to $1.85 due to lower gross margins.
UBS has downgraded Avon Products to sell from neutral.
The provider of kidney care services DaVita is to acquire HealthCare Partners for $4.42bn.
More QE is a possibility
The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has gone on record as saying that the option of further quantitative easing should not be dismissed.
The three-month moving average for the Chicago Federal Reserve bank´s national activity index fell to -0.06 in April, from 0.02 in the month before.
Few changes in oil and bonds
10 year US Treasuries are now falling by 2/32 dollars with yields at 1.73%.
Front month West Texas crude futures are now up by 0.16% to the $91.63/barrel mark in NYMEX trading.
AB