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Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros

Friday, April 24, 2015

10 things you need to know before the opening bell (DIA, SPY, SPX, QQQ, GOOG, SBUX, HSBC, MSFT, AMZN)

Here is what you need to know.  The Nasdaq finished Thursday's session at an all-time high. The tech-heavy index closed at  5,056.06,   eclipsing its March 2000 peak. Back then, it  Euro-area finance ministers are becoming increasingly frustrated with Greece. The troubled country's self-imposed deadline to secure bailout funding is Friday, and there is still no deal. According to a source cited by Bloomberg, "Euro-area finance chiefs said Varoufakis’s handling of the talks was irresponsible and accused him of being a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur." Greece's 3-year yield is lower by 3 basis points at 24.34%.  German business confidence hit an 10-month high. According to the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, German Ifo Business Climate hit 108.6, its best since June. Germany's 10-year yield is down 0.6 basis points at 0.157%. Google's quarter disappointed. The search giant announced earnings of $6.57 per share, missing the $6.63 that was expected. Revenues jumped 11.9% to $17.26 billion, but fell short of the $17.5 billion that Wall Street analysts were forecasting. The closely followed cost per click metric fell 7% year-over-year, and the number of paid clicks jumped 13% YoY (15% YoY expected).  Starbucks revenues outpaced estimates. The coffee giant announced revenues surged 17.8% over last year to $4.56 billion, topping the $4.53 billion that was expected. Earnings were in-line at $0.33 per share, when adjusted for non-recurring items. The company said same store sales were up 5% in the Americas region.  Amazon's cloud business is booming. The on-line retailer announced a loss of $0.12 per share, slightly outpacing the $0.13 loss that was anticipated. Revenues grew 15.1% YoY to $22.72 billion, topping the $22.39 billion that was expected. The company's Amazon Web Services announced a $265 million profit, putting it on track to profit more than $1 billion this year.  Microsoft beat on the top and bottom lines. The company earned $0.62 per share, easily topping the $0.51 that was expected. Revenues climb 6.5% versus a year ago to $21.73 billion, beating the $21.06 billion that analysts were looking for. The strong dollar was a significant headwind during the quarter.  HSBC has begun a review of the location of its headquarters. The bank is considering a move from its London headquarters because of the bank levy tax, which cost the firm $1 billion in 2014. Hong Kong is said to be under consideration if a move were to take place.  Global stock markets are mixed. Australia's ASX (+1.5%) paced action overnight while Japan's Nikkei (-0.8%) and China's Shanghai Composite (-0.8%) lagged. In Europe, Spain's IBEX (+0.8%) and Italy's MIB (+0.8%) lead the advance. S&P futures are up 1 point at 2108.  US economic data is light. Durable orders will cross the wires at 8:30 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is little changed near 1.96%. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Watch these giant container ships collide near the Suez Canal


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