Wednesday Morning Reads

Treasury yields lower after stronger earnings

U.S. Treasury yields were lower in early hours as investors took in better-than-expected corporate earnings. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was lower at around 2.538%, and the 30-year Treasury bond was lower at 2.97%.

Report: CBS CEO search complicated by concerns of looming merger

CBS (NYSE:CBS) has extended the term of interim CEO Joseph Ianniello, the former COO who took over following the exit of Les Moonves, for another six months into December. That comes as an executive search has run into reluctant candidates, the New York Post reports, due to uncertainty about a potential CBS re-merger with Viacom (VIA, VIAB) - a move that looks more likely with the company keeping Ianniello in an interim role for longer. CBS is conducting a strategic review, according to the report.

SoftBank/Didi Chuxing taxi-hailing service expanding in Japan

A Japanese joint venture between SoftBank Corp. (OTCPK:SFTBY) and China's Didi Chuxing (DIDI) is set to expand its taxi-hailing service into 13 cities, starting with Tokyo and Kyoto today. With U.S.-style ride-hailing effectively banned, Japan is seeing hot competition for apps matching taxis with riders, including companies backed by Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Toyota (NYSE:TM). SoftBank is pursuing synergies with other portfolio companies, including route-finding with Yahoo Japan and payment with Paytm technology.

Chip stocks volatile after TI, STM earnings

Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) lost its post-earnings gains after the CFO said the cyclical downturn was likely still in its early stages. European semi peer STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) reported Q1 misses and said lower-than-expected FY19 plans would be addressed with inventory adjustments and spending cuts. European chip stocks shook off early losses, but the U.S. sector could still have a volatile day as investors seek clearer sector visibility.

Samsung investing $116B in non-memory chips

Samsung (OTC:SSNNF, OTC:SSNLF) will invest $116B through 2030 in non-volatile memory chips to take on competitors TSMC (NYSE:TSM) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM). The money will be split between domestic R&D and production infrastructure to reduce Samsung’s dependence on the volatile memory chip market.

SoftBank investing $1B in Wirecard

SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBF, OTCPK:SFTBY) will invest $1B in beleaguered German payments company Wirecard (OTCPK:WCAGY, OTCPK:WRCDF). Wirecard will issue five-year convertible bonds representing about 5.6% of common stock. The funds come with a partnership for SoftBank to help expand Wirecard’s services in Asia.

What else is happening...

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) okay to pay up to $350M in employee bonuses.

Boeing (BA) sees FAA okay on software fix in May, MAX ungrounding in July.

FDA approves Boston Scientific's (NYSE:BSX) LOTUS Edge aortic valve system.

AbbVie's (NYSE:ABBV) psoriasis treatment Skyrizi gets FDA approval.

Dissident trustee nominee makes 'false and misleading' statements, TPL (NYSE:TPL) says.