Thursday, May 17, 2007

Morning Market Comment

Stock futures are drifting lower this morning ahead of economic data. Today at 8:30, we get the release from the government on jobless claims. Philly Fed and Leading Indicators are also due for release. At 9:30, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke about the subprime mortgage market at the Chicago Fed Bank Structure conference, No Q&A .

There's a good amount of news this morning about takeovers and potential deals...

Here's an announced deal - 24/7 Real Media Announces Agreement to Be Acquired by WPP. The 24/7 (TFSM) options activity has seen spurts of activity in recent weeks.

Bank of America this morning notes that Alltel's (AT) credit spread are at all time highs. BofA says its revised LBO analysis suggests a 60% chance for a $71 offer, 10% chance for a $77 bid.
They also assign 30% chance that a deal falls apart and the stock returns to $55.

Freidman Billings is stoking the flames of merger speculation in some large banking names. FBR says Keybank (KEY) could be acquired by National City (NCC) for $52 a share. FBR says it could be JP Morgan (JPM) for Comerica (CMA) for $85 a share. JP Morgan could also be an acquirer of Suntrust (STI) for nearly $100/shr. FBR says Wells Fargo, US Bancorp, PNC and BB&T are all possible suitors for STI.

Cerberus, the folks who are buying most of Chrysler, appears to be on a buying spree. Cerberus readies BCE bid.


There's an interesting post mortem this morning concerning the engadget.com report yesterday that knocked $4 bln off of Apple's (AAPL) market cap. And there's an interesting twist concerning who's liable.

Motorola lands a big deal: China Postel inks $2.3bn deal with Motorola.

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