Wednesday Morning Reads

Futures gain

Ahead by 0.3%, U.S. stock index futures are following European equities higher, with the Euro Stoxx 50 (NYSEARCA:FEZ) up 0.9% at midday after IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde was nominated as the new head of the ECB. Lagarde is expected to continue the dovish policies of current chief Mario Draghi, whose term expires on Oct. 31. Oil is up 0.8% to $56.69/bbl after a 4% plunge in the previous session, while 10-year Treasury yields dipped to the lowest since November 2016 following a disappointing run of economic data.

Market hours

Major U.S. exchanges, as well as equity futures and options, will close at 1 p.m. ET and will remain closed tomorrow for the Fourth of July holiday. Commodity markets will stay open a bit longer, until 5 p.m. today, while markets for government bonds and other fixed-income securities will close at 2 p.m. Things will be back to normal on Friday, even though staffing and trading are expected to be light.

Easier policy?

Amid a yearlong assault on the Fed and its chairman, President Trump has tapped two economists to the central bank’s board who are likely to support a call for lower interest rates. Christopher Waller is director of research for St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who was the only dissenting vote in favor of a rate cut at the Fed's meeting in June. The other, Judy Shelton, has been an informal adviser to Trump and publicly said the central bank should reduce rates.

Next trade war or deal?

The EU is open to talks with Washington in a dispute over aircraft subsidies, but it is also preparing retaliation after the U.S. added Italian cheese, Scotch whisky and other products to a list of goods in line for hefty tariffs. The WTO has found that Airbus (OTCPK:EADSY) and Boeing (NYSE:BA) received billions of dollars of harmful subsidies in a pair of cases marking the world's largest-ever corporate trade dispute. Billions of dollars of tit-for-tat tariffs are on the line, with Washington first to seek the duties under the WTO timetable.

Arizona wades into Nike controversy

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has withdrawn a $1M incentive for Nike (NYSE:NKE) to build a plant in the state following the company's "terrible decision" to pull its Air Max 1 sneakers. "Instead of celebrating American history the week of our nation’s independence, Nike has apparently decided that Betsy Ross is unworthy, and has bowed to the current onslaught of political correctness and historical revisionism," he declared. Critics, like Colin Kaepernick, say featuring a colonial-era version of the American flag on the sneakers reflects links to slavery.

Broadcom sets sights on Symantec

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) appears to still be on a buying spree, with the chipmaker in advanced talks to acquire security software vendor Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC), Bloomberg reports. Shares of the latter surged more than 20% AH on Tuesday following the news, but prior to the report the stock had lost about a third of its value since 2017 due to management turnover and deteriorating earnings. Broadcom most recently bought CA Inc. for $18.9B, although its effort to purchase Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) was blocked by the Trump administration.

Roku dominates

Over 30% of all new TV streaming devices sold in the U.S. last quarter ran Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) software, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics, which added that the service now used on more than 41M devices across the country. Sony's (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation consoles took second place with 31M and rival Microsoft's Xbox (NASDAQ:MSFT) followed with 29M. Roku's share of sales was also more than double that of both its closest competitors: Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Fire TV was present on 12% of devices sold, while Samsung's (OTC:SSNLF) Tizen could be found on 11%.

What else is happening...

Contributor Arturo Neto still likes Apartment REITs.

Samsung Electronics' (OTC:SSNLF) Q2 profit likely halved on Huawei woes.

Amazon (AMZN) continues to beef up its European operations.

Reports suggest Saudi Aramco (ARMCO0 is restarting IPO process.

States pause lawsuits against bankrupt opioid maker Insys (NASDAQ:INSY).

U.S. judge to slash Bayer's (OTCPK:BAYRY) $80M Roundup jury verdict.