News Summary for May 1, 2011

This is your Benzinga news summary and trader's outlook for Wednesday, June 1, 2011, covering overnight and Wednesday's pre-market session. Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S. equity futures are showing slight losses morning after the ADP employment data failed to meet analysts' expectations. Employment increased by only 38,000 while traders were expecting a rise of 175,000 jobs. Quickly after this report, the U.S. dollar fell to session lows and U.S. treasury notes spiked to session highs. On the economic calendar today, MBA mortgage applications fell 4% for the period of May 27th - the first drop in five weeks - as confidence to purchase homes showed continued weakness. Construction spending and ISM data are to be released later today at 10:00 a.m. EST. Yesterday, after the bell, Philips-Van Heusen PVH posted a first quarter earnings beat of $0.07/share and raised its full-year outlook. Jos A. Bank JOSB slightly missed earnings and revenue estimates, though same-store sales rose 0.1% for the quarter. This morning, Dollar General DG reported an earnings miss of $0.02/share but nevertheless beat revenue estimates for the first quarter. It saw same-store sales up 5.4% and guided fiscal year 2012 EPS in-line with estimates. On the commodity front, gold and silver started the day relatively weak, with gold futures trading down about 0.10% and silver down over 0.75%. Crude oil remains above the $100/barrel level, at approximately $102.06/barrel, relatively lower on the session. Overseas, surveys showed factory growth slowing in Europe and Asia in the month of May, adding to concerns that growth in the global economy is slowing. Nokia NOK fell as much as 10% in European trading to a 13-year low as Bank of America BAC reported Nokia had a break-up value of approximately 4.75 euros per share. At least check, Nokia was trading at approximately 4.27 euros. In corporate news, Sealed Air SEE announced the acquisition of Diversey for $4.3 billion. This would be Sealed Air's largest deal ever. Toyota Motor TM announced a global recall of 105,784 early-model Prius cars to fix a problem with the car's gearbox and steering. Lastly, after hurdling legal issues, Alpha Natural Resources ANR is expected to complete its acquisition of Massey Energy MEE today.