Food and Drug
Administration has voted to support approval of once-daily oral Truvada
to reduce the risk of HIV-1 infection among uninfected adults, an HIV
prevention strategy called pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP.
Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ESRX) rose 2.45 percent in
premarket after the company's first quarter results. Adjusted earnings
per share (EPS) rose to $0.73 from $0.66. Revenue increased to $12.13
billion from $11.09 billion. Analysts had expected EPS of $0.77 on
revenue of $11.48 billion. For fiscal 2012, the company expects adjusted
EPS of $3.36 to $3.66, while Street predicts $3.63. Total adjusted
claims are expected to be about 1.4 billion.
Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE:JWN) declined 4.26 percent in premarket after
the fashion specialty retailer's quarterly earnings fell short of market
expectations and the company kept its full year forecast. Earnings per
share (EPS) increased to $0.70 from $0.65. Net sales jumped nearly 14
percent to $2.53 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of $0.75 per
share on sales of $2.52 billion for the first quarter. Same-store sales
grew 8.5 percent.
Looking ahead for the second quarter, Nordstrom sees low-single-digit
increase in same-store sales and gross profit to fall between 70 and 90
basis points. For the full year, the company still expects earnings per
share in the range of $3.30 to $3.45, below consensus estimate of
$3.48.
JPMorgan's hefty trading losses hit bank stocks. In the premarket,
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) lost 3.85 percent, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) fell
2.50 percent, Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) declined 2.47 percent,
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) fell 3.14 percent, and Wells Fargo
& Co. (NYSE:WFC) declined 1.63 percent.
Global Markets:
The European markets traded
lower hurt by JPMorgan trading loss, with Germany's DAX falling 0.67
percent to trade at 6,474.13. France's CAC40 fell 1.53 percent to
3,082.19. Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.30 percent lower to 5,510.65.
Asian markets ended lower on Greek uncertainty. The Shanghai
Composite Index declined 0.63 percent to end at $2,394.98. Hong Kong's
Hang Seng fell 1.30 percent to close at 19,964.63. Japan's Nikkei 225
edged 0.63 percent lower to close at 8,953.31. India's BSE Sensex
finished at 16,292.98, down 0.77 percent.
Market Scan:
Ahead of the opening bell, crude oil lost 1.07 percent to $96.04 per barrel. Gold fell 0.56 percent to $1,586.10 per ounce.
In
the currency market, the euro edged 0.10 percent lower against the U.S.
dollar at 1.2924 and the British pound fell 0.43 percent against the
greenback to 1.6075. The dollar edged 0.11 percent lower against the
Japanese yen to 79.8500.