June 6th - Wednesday - Gapping up / down

Futures indicate a lower open for the U.S. equity mkts as the major European bourses are down following the ECB's expected 25-basis point rate hike and Morgan Stanley issuing a triple sell warnings on European equities. On the economic front, Q1 productivity was revised lower, checking in at 1.0% (consensus 1.0%) from a previous read of 1.7%. With high levels of resource utilization still a Fed focal point as they have the potential to sustain inflation pressures, unit labor costs tripling from the 0.6% rate initially reported has exacerbated wage-based inflation worries.

Notable pre-market Calls include Upgrades: TEVA at Credit Suisse, IMA at Stifel Nicolaus; Downgrades: CACH at Merriman, GILD at Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, VLTR at CIBC and First Albany, PNRA at Morgan Keegan... On the Earnings calendar: ADCT, CMTL, DDMX, GEF, MATK, SAI, SEAC and SHFL are confirmed to report after the close... On the Economic calendar, nothing remains on the schedule for today.

Gapping down on weak earnings/guidance: PNRA -9.8% (reports May same store sales, lowers Q2 guidance), COO -7.3%, CPRT -3.7%... Other news: XTLB -26.2% (provides update on Phase 1 clinical trial of XTL-2125), HSOA -6.3% (continued pressure after yesterday's ~10% sell-off following cautious newsletter mention), FRO -3.3% (trading ex-dividend of a $1.50 cash dividend), AAUK -2.4%, GFI -2.2% (announced total attributable mineral resources of $251.7 mln oz and ore reserves of 93.8 mln oz).

Gapping up on strong earnings/guidance: GES +5.1%... Jana Partners and SAC Capital seek sale of AMTD, suggest SCHW and ETFC as merger partners: AMTD +5.3%, ETFC +3.1%, SCHW +1.3%... Other news: IVAN +17.9% (co 'successfully' demonstrates final key commercial configuration of heavy oil upgrading technology), TBUS +11.1% (announces orders for TwinVision color electronic destination sign systems), ACAD +10.2% (positive Cramer mention), TAL +5.9% (exploring strategic alternatives, including possible sale), GNVC +3.0% (co holding conference call at 8:30 E.T. to review data presented at ASCO), RACK +1.9% (still checking around), OPWV +1.7% (Unstrung reports there is still talk that Sybase could be waiting in the wings with an offer).