From Yes We Can to Probably Not (BBG) How Mitch McConnell did it (Politico) Tough road ahead for Obama after Republicans seize Senate (Reuters) Election 2014: Who were the big winners and losers? (USA Today) GOP Senate Takeover Puts Fed on Hot Seat (WSJ), and other fables GOP Won by Recruiting the Right Candidates (WSJ) McCain could shake up U.S. defense in powerful new Senate role (Reuters) Investors Pulled Record Amount From Pimco’s Flagship Fund in October (WSJ) Taliban group threatens to attack India following border blast (Reuters) Oil Import Decline to U.S. Revealed by Louisiana as Truth (BBG) Toyota raises FY profit forecast by nine percent on weak yen (Reuters) GM Could Face $2 Billion Tab If Bankruptcy Shield Falls (BBG) Buyout Firms Push to Keep Information Under Wraps (WSJ) Prepare for Gold Rally If Swiss Bullion Referendum Passes (BBG) U.S. Ebola researchers plead for access to virus samples (Reuters) Governments’ Requests for Facebook User Data Up 24% in 1H 2014, Restricted Content Up 19% (AllFaceBook) Russians Skip Switzerland Trips as Ukraine Crisis Hits Ruble (BBG) Pilot mystery at heart of Virgin Galactic spaceship crash probe (Reuters)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
* Republican Senate candidates won sweeping victories on Tuesday, capturing Democratic-held Senate seats and giving the party control of Congress for the first time in eight years. (http://on.wsj.com/1zvbcrI)
* BHP Billiton Ltd will soon sell U.S. oil abroad without explicit permission from the government in another sign that the decades-old federal ban on crude exports is crumbling. (http://on.wsj.com/1tYXHgt)
* Investors pulled an industry record $27.5 billion from Pacific Investment Management Co Ltd's flagship fund last month as the surprise exit of co-founder Bill Gross took its toll on the firm he co-founded. (http://on.wsj.com/1tyaghr)
* The speedy acquittal of Raoul Weil, a former top UBS AG official accused of helping Americans evade U.S. taxes, could complicate government efforts to prosecute other high-level executives for criminal conduct. (http://on.wsj.com/1tGurvk)
* The European Union on Tuesday cut its growth forecasts for this year and next, citing a lack of internal investment and political tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East. (http://on.wsj.com/1xbG4ZY)
* Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Tuesday that revenue for the quarter rose 54 percent to $2.74 billion, as more business flowed through the company's online shopping sites while its earnings for the quarter ended in September fell 39 percent from a year earlier to $494 million, largely because of stock awards to employees and executives. (http://on.wsj.com/10TSqMr)
* Monster Worldwide Inc said Timothy Yates would take over as the company's chief executive, effective immediately, following the resignation of Salvatore Iannuzzi, who left the role for personal reasons. (http://on.wsj.com/1oiYus2)
* Private-equity shops have been advising public pension funds to keep secret details about fees, interactions with regulators and other investment data, sometimes threatening to punish investors that do not heed the warnings. (http://on.wsj.com/1pjGVsw)
* A federal judge said Allergan Inc raised "serious questions" about the legality of Pershing Square Capital Management LP's and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc's joint $53 billion takeover bid, but he stopped short of blocking them from voting a 9.7 percent Allergan stake at a shareholder meeting next month. (http://on.wsj.com/10TVwQD)
FT
John Rishton, chief executive of Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc announced that the company would downsize its 55,000 strong workforce by 2,600 to bring down annual costs by 80 million pounds ($128 million).
A consortium of German, South African and Russian businessmen led by a former lieutenant of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has launched a rescue bid for Petropavlovsk , a London-listed Russian miner. The company is one of the biggest casualties of a global slump in gold prices. Gold is trading at its lowest in the past four years and gold miners are struggling to adapt to the slump.
UK pharma group AstraZeneca Plc announced two deals on Tuesday that strengthen its position in cancer drugs. The company said it bought Definiens, a German company that uses new ways of acquiring information from cancerous tissue using imaging and data analysis. The other deal was a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson and Pharmacyclics to experiment with combinations of drugs developed by AstraZeneca and cancer treatments developed by the U.S. companies.
Spirit Pub Co Plc has agreed to Greene King's buyout offer of 774 million pounds ($1.24 billion). Greene King's offer represents a premium of 52 pct to Spirit's share price when the takeover was first reported in the FT on Sept. 22. Greene King has 1,900 pubs, while Spirit has 1,227, mainly in London and the southeast.
NYT
* Searching for a new way to attack Ebola, companies and academic researchers are now racing to develop faster and easier tests for determining whether someone has the disease. Medical companies are looking for a technology that takes only a little blood, and gives an answer in minutes instead of hours or days.(http://nyti.ms/10jZKjl)
* Regulators fear that the stampede into less conventional assets, including leveraged loans, could create bubbles that will later pop, harming banks and the wider economy. (http://nyti.ms/1tabPOO)
* With more than a million defective small cars still on the road, General Motors Co said on Tuesday that it was adding an incentive for owners to have them fixed: $25 gift cards to one of seven retailers, like Applebee's and Bass Pro Shops. (http://nyti.ms/1Aely0o)
* Turner Broadcasting announced on Tuesday that Kevin Reilly will become president of the TNT and TBS cable networks and the chief creative officer of Turner Entertainment. (http://nyti.ms/1tYF4cL)
* SoundCloud Ltd, a streaming music service that attracts 175 million users each month, has signed a licensing deal with the Warner Music Group Corp, one of the three major global music companies, the two companies announced on Tuesday. (http://nyti.ms/10sAFTH)
* Apple Inc said it had issued a bond of 2.8 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in debt for the first time in Euros as 22 percent of the company's revenue came from Europe in the fiscal fourth quarter. (http://nyti.ms/10TyZmR)
* The United States trade deficit rose 7.6 percent to $43 billion in September as exports slumped, a sign that the world's biggest economy is starting to feel the impact of weakening global growth. (http://nyti.ms/1tGax3r)
* Time Inc, America's largest magazine publisher, reported on Tuesday that its third-quarter revenue had increased slightly to $821 million in the third quarter, compared with $818 million in the same quarter of last year as it continued to suffer from declines in print advertising and circulation. (http://nyti.ms/1pjc4fQ)
* European Union officials on Tuesday sharply lowered growth forecasts to a meager 1.3 percent as member states like France, Germany and Italy showed weak economic performance, and as business confidence suffered from heightened geopolitical risks. (http://nyti.ms/1x2fCFB)
* A federal judge on Tuesday declined to block the hedge fund billionaire William Ackman from voting his firm's shares in a fight for control of the board of Allergan, the maker of Botox, potentially bolstering his effort to force the company into a sale to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc . (http://nyti.ms/1y14GES)
* Greene King, a British brewer and operator of pubs and hotels, said on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement to acquire the Spirit Pub Co Pcl of Britain for 773.6 million pounds, or about $1.2 billion, in cash and stock. (http://nyti.ms/1uszEZA)
* Virgin Money Plc, the British financial services company, partly owned by the billionaire Richard Branson, said on Tuesday that it planned to list its shares in London by the end of November and hoped to raise about 150 million pounds, or $240 million, in its offering. (http://nyti.ms/1vGd22s)
* Pimco Fund said on Tuesday that investors withdrew $27.5 billion from its flagship Total Return fund in October, shrinking the size of the bond fund to $171 billion, following the shock departure of its manager, Bill Gross. (http://nyti.ms/1oiUdon)
China
CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL
- Supply and demand in China's property market is relatively loose with oversupply in some cities, said Qin Hong, director of the policy research centre at the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
- The Chinese city of Shenzhen will launch a new power transmission and distribution price pilot scheme in 2015, according to the country's top regulator. The scheme marks the start of wider power price reform throughout the country.
- A branch of China Construction Bank Corp has drafted a plan to launch a renminbi investment and loan fund worth 20 billion yuan ($3.27 billion) to allow firms to invest in countries within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS
- China's finance ministry and environmental protection ministry have created a draft proposal for an environmental protection tax law, which has already been submitted to the country's State Council, the official paper said.
21st CENTURY BUSINESS HERALD
- Sixteen listed Chinese banks reported a total 1.5 trillion yuan ($245.30 billion) drop in deposits in the third quarter according to banks' earnings reports, the paper said.
CHINA DAILY
- The burning of coal caused almost a third of China's airborne PM2.5 pollution in 2012, according to a report from the prestigious Tsinghua University on Tuesday. PM2.5 is a key barometer of the country's often hazardous smog.
SHANGHAI DAILY
- Authorities in Shanghai have arrested a 21-year-old Chinese man after he dressed up as a zombie around the recent Halloween festival and terrified passengers on the city's metro.
Fly On The Wall Pre-market Buzz
ECONOMIC REPORTS
Domestic economic reports scheduled for today include:
ADP employment change for October at 8:15--consensus 230K
Markit services PMI for October at 9:45--consensus 57.1
ISM non-manufacturing index for October at 10:00--consensus 58.0
ANALYST RESEARCH
Upgrades
AmTrust (AFSI) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Compass Point
Bloomin' Brands (BLMN) upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James
Brink's (BCO) upgraded to Outperform from In-Line at Imperial Capital
Digital River (DRIV) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse
Discovery (DISCA) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Pivotal Research
Michael Kors (KORS) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays
Time Inc. (TIME) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at FBR Capital
Downgrades
Chuy's (CHUY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies
Chuy's (CHUY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at KeyBanc
Chuy's (CHUY) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
Chuy's (CHUY) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at RW Baird
Covance (CVD) downgraded to Hold from Buy at KeyBanc
Discovery (DISCA) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee
Domino's Pizza (DPZ) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Miller Tabak
Estee Lauder (EL) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo
Expeditors (EXPD) downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse
Goodrich Petroleum (GDP) downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James
Health Care REIT (HCN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Evercore ISI
Impax (IPXL) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray
Intel (INTC) downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Bernstein
LINN Energy (LINE) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse
MDU Resources (MDU) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at RW Baird
MFA Financial (MFA) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette
MFA Financial (MFA) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee
Navigator Holdings (NVGS) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo
Philippine Long Distance (PHI) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan
Roper Industries (ROP) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan
Safety Insurance (SAFT) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Compass Point
Santander Consumer (SC) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo
Santander Consumer (SC) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill
Sykes Enterprises (SYKE) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo
TripAdvisor (TRIP) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at Pacific Crest
Triple-S (GTS) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
Initiations
Arista Networks (ANET) initiated with an Outperform at Imperial Capital
Foresight Energy (FELP) initiated with a Buy at Deutsche Bank
TRI Pointe Homes (TPH) re-initiated with a Buy at Deutsche Bank
Yahoo (YHOO) coverage resumed with a Buy at SunTrust
COMPANY NEWS
Morgan Stanley (MS) said it will post tax benefit of $1.3B in Q4 related to MSSBH. The company also said it is continuing to respond to subpoenas, requests for information
Facebook (FB) said government requests for user data up 24% in 1H over the second half of last year
Jive Software (JIVE) said CEO Tony Zingale will retire
Exelixis (EXEL) said E1512 Phase 2 trial of cabozantinib and erlotinib met primary endpoint
Pioneer Natural (PXD) announced that it is pursuing divestment of Eagle Ford Shale Midstream business
Jamba (JMBA) announced a $25M share repurchase program and forecast FY15 company-owned SSS up 3%-5%
EARNINGS
Companies that beat consensus earnings expectations last night and today include:
21st Century Fox (FOXA), Spectra Energy (SE), Actavis (ACT), Caesarstone (CSTE), American States Water (AWR), Hill-Rom (HRC), Rockwood (ROC), Memorial Production (MEMP), Quanta Services (PWR), Forestar Group (FOR), Cognizant (CTSH), Covidien (COV), Towers Watson (TW), Voya Financial (VOYA), NICE Systems (NICE), Magna (MGA), Wix.com (WIX), Axiall (AXLL), QR Energy (QRE), Sanchez Energy (SN), Brookfield Residential (BRP), Natural Resource Partners (NRP), EOG Resources (EOG), Papa John's (PZZA), Brixmor (BRX), Information Services (III), Colony Financial (CLNY), Sequenom (SQNM), Neenah Paper (NP), Innospec (IOSP), ReachLocal (RLOC), Midstates Petroleum (MPO), Cimarex Energy (XEC), KAR Auction (KAR), Correction: Coupons.com (COUP), Potbelly (PBPB), RenaissanceRe (RNR), XenoPort (XNPT), zulily (ZU), Exelixis (EXEL), TriNet (TNET), Corcept Therapeutics (CORT), Paycom Software (PAYC), Jack Henry (JKHY), Actuate (BIRT), Devon Energy (DVN), Callidus Software (CALD), Ironwood (IRWD), BIOLASE (BIOL), Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ), Pharmacyclics (PCYC), Jive Software (JIVE), NanoString (NSTG), ExamWorks (EXAM), Celldex (CLDX), Rex Energy (REXX), Criteo (CRTO), Genomic Health (GHDX), Adept Technology (ADEP), TechTarget (TTGT), 2U (TWOU), Enphase Energy (ENPH), Renewable Energy (REGI), Coherent (COHR), Activision Blizzard (ATVI), HomeAway (AWAY), FireEye (FEYE), Evolving Systems (EVOL), Pioneer Natural (PXD), Kopin (KOPN), AmSurg (AMSG), Itron (ITRI), Fiesta Restaurant (FRGI)
Companies that missed consensus earnings expectations include:
OCI Resources (OCIR), WellCare (WCG), Gray Television (GTN), FairPoint (FRP), Dynavax (DVAX), Cincinnati Bell (CBB), Chuy's (CHUY), Era Group (ERA), Delek Logistics (DKL), Park-Ohio (PKOH), Pembina Pipeline (PBA), Xenith Bankshares (XBKS), Oasis Petroleum (OAS), PHH Corp. (PHH), Aeterna Zentaris (AEZS), Bio-Rad (BIO), Essex Rental (ESSX), Sparton (SPA), Hackett Group (HCKT), Solar Capital (SLRC), Commercial Vehicle Group (CVGI), Invesco Mortgage (IVR), UIL Holdings (UIL), Lexicon (LXRX), Coupons.com (COUP), Myriad Genetics (MYGN), Horizon Technology (HRZN), ZAGG (ZAGG), Safety Insurance (SAFT), Amdocs (DOX), Viper Energy (VNOM), Adamas Pharmaceuticals (ADMS), Pegasystems (PEGA), Carmike Cinemas (CKEC), Cerus (CERS), United Online (UNTD), Amyris (AMRS), T2 Biosystems (TTOO), MoSys (MOSY), CSG Systems (CSGS), Chuy's (CHUY), TripAdvisor (TRIP), Jamba (JMBA), Ternium (TX)
Companies that matched consensus earnings expectations include:
Lamar Advertising (LAMR), Pacific Drilling (PACD), Capital Senior Living (CSU), Cardica (CRDC), Global Cash Access (GCA), RealPage (RP), Malibu Boats (MBUU), Bright Horizons (BFAM)
NEWSPAPERS/WEBSITES
BHP Billiton (BHP) to sell U.S. oil overseas without government permission, WSJ reports
Elliott could campaign for board seats at Interpublic (IPG), WSJ reports
Visa (V) to replace MasterCard (MA) in Best Buy card processing pact, Bloomberg reports
21st Century Fox (FOXA) COO says traditional cable bundle 'fraying,' FT reports
Website publishes hundreds of bent iPhone photos, Business Insider reports (AAPL)
France gives go-ahead on GE (GE)-Alstom (ALSMY) agreement, Reuters says
SYNDICATE
Antero Midstream (AM) 40M share IPO priced at $25.00
Federal Realty (FRT) files to sell 632,033 common shares of beneficial interest
Glu Mobile (GLUU) files to sell 9.9M shares for holders
Macquarie Infrastructure (MIC) files to sell 1.29M LLC interests for holders
NorthWestern (NWE) 6.77M share Secondary priced at $51.50
Pioneer Natural (PXD) files to sell 5.75M shares of common stock
QTS Realty Trust (QTS) files to sell 26.2M shares for holders
Quintiles (Q) files to sell 13.3M shares for holders
Xenon Pharmaceuticals (XENE) 4M share IPO priced at $9.00
