>>> S&P Midcap 400 : In : FTNT out : HTSI

Standard & Poors announces changes to U.S. indices: FTNT to replace HTSI in the S&P MidCap 400

Fortinet (FTNT) will replace Harris Teeter Supermarkets (HTSI) in the S&P MidCap 400 after the close of trading on Tuesday, January 28. S&P 500 constituent The Kroger Co. (KR) is acquiring Harris Teeter in a deal expected to be completed on that date.

McKesson-Celesio Deal ’Important Strategic Transaction’: ISI

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McKesson-Celesio Deal ’Important Strategic Transaction’: ISI 2014-01-23 21:42:12.100 GMT

By Rachel Layne Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- McKesson shares should rise to “pre-deal break levels,” near $180 given expected $1-$1.20/shr Celesio will add to adj. EPS in first 12 mos., ISI Group’s Ross J. Muken writes in note. * Deal “important strategic transaction” for MCK given geographic reach, generic purchasing scale * MCK to make bond purchase agreement with Elliott Associates for EU350 million of Celesio bonds to meet tender threshold * NOTE: Earlier, MCK to buy most of Celesio for EU23.50 per shr under new agreement w/ Franz Haniel & Cie to buy conv bonds held by Elliott Mgmt; sees deals closing within 10 business days

For Related News and Information: First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO> First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

--Editor: Joanna Ossinger

To contact the reporter on this story: Rachel Layne in Boston at +1-617-210-4634 or rlayne@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joanna Ossinger at +1-212-617-7789 or jossinger@bloomberg.net

>>> Starbucks beats by $0.02, misses on revs-->+0,83% After Hours

Starbucks beats by $0.02, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus; guides Q3 (Jun) EPS below consensus; guides FY14 EPS in-line

Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.71 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.69; revenues rose 11.8% year/year to $4.24 bln vs the $4.29 bln consensus.
Global comparable store sales grew 5% (street expectations were +6%), driven by a 4% increase in traffic Americas and U.S. comp growth of 5%, driven by a 4% increase in traffic EMEA comp growth of 5%, the highest growth in 13 quarters, driven by a 3% increase in traffic China/Asia Pacific comp growth of 8%, driven by a 7% increase in traffic.
Consolidated operating income increased 29% to $814 million
Consolidated operating margin improved 260 basis points to 19.2%
Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.54-0.55 vs. $0.56 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues downside guidance for Q3 (Jun), sees EPS of $0.64-0.66 vs. $0.68 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Co issues in-line guidance for FY14, sees EPS of $2.59-2.67 vs. $2.65 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. ...

FY14 Forecasts
SBUX Revenue growth of 10% or greater
Global comparable store sales growth in the mid single digits
Consolidated operating margin improvement of approximately 150 to 200 basis points over FY13:
Americas: moderate improvement over FY13
EMEA: operating margin improving toward the high single digits
CAP: operating margin percentage moving toward the low 30's Channel Development: moderate improvement over FY13...
Capital expenditures of approximately $1.2 billion

McKesson to Buy 75.99% of Celesio Shares Via New Agreements

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McKesson to Buy 75.99% of Celesio Shares Via New Agreements 2014-01-23 21:18:15.316 GMT

By Rachel Layne Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- McKesson to buy most of Celesio for EU23.50 per shr under new agreement w/Franz Haniel & Cie, to buy conv. bonds held by Elliott Mgmt; sees deals closing within 10 business days. * Deal funded partly in cash, balance in bridge financing * Will launch tender offer to minority holders after deals close * Sees transaction adding $1-$1.20 to adj. EPS in first 12 mos after transaction close, assumes 100% ownership * MCK sees annual synergies between $275m-$325m * MCK up 2.7% post-mkt * MCK 15 buys, 3 holds, 1 sell * CLS1 GR 4 buys, 7 holds, 1 sell * After agreements close, MCK will exceed 75% ownership on fully-diluted basis * NOTE: Earlier, Haniel, Elliot close to agreement on Celesio stake, Boersen-Zeitung reported * NOTE: Jan. 14, MCK may seek joint venture w/Celesio after failed bid; Jan. 9 MCK offered to raise bid to win support from Elliot Mgmt Statement

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To contact the reporter on this story: Rachel Layne in Boston at +1-617-210-4634 or rlayne@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joanna Ossinger at +1-212-617-7789 or jossinger@bloomberg.net

>>> US Close Dow -1,07% S&P -0,89% Nasdaq -0,57%

Closing Market Summary: Stocks Slump Amid China-Related Concerns

The S&P 500 snapped its modest two-day win streak with its second-largest decline of the month. The index lost 0.9% as nine of ten sectors registered losses.

Although stocks sold off throughout the day, the weakness actually started during the overnight futures session when three China-related developments began fueling the risk-off sentiment:
The HSBC flash PMI reading for January was below expectations at 49.6. The sub-50 reading is indicative of manufacturing activity contracting; and the January reading marked a six-month low for the series.
A Financial Times report indicated Chinese authorities are working to prevent a default of a $500 million high-yield investment trust, failure of which could trigger an unnerving fallout in China's shadow banking system.
An SEC administrative law judge issued a ruling that censures the accounting arms of the "Big Four" in China for six months due to their unwillingness to turn over requested documents involving US-listed Chinese companies under investigation for accounting fraud.
The three developments did enough damage to sentiment that a slate of mostly better-than-expected earnings could not halt the day-long slide. The discretionary sector (-0.7%) finished just ahead of the broader market after last year's top S&P 500 component, Netflix (NFLX 388.72, +54.99), surged 16.5% in reaction to its bottom-line beat and above-consensus guidance.

Outside of the discretionary space, the technology sector (-0.4%) was the only outperformer among cyclical groups. F5 Networks (FFIV 102.49, +5.01) spiked 5.1% following its better-than-expected results while the top sector component, Apple (AAPL 556.18, +4.67), gained 0.9% after investor Carl Icahn said he increased his stake in the company by another $500 million today. This comes after Mr. Icahn made similar comments yesterday.

The remaining four cyclical groups—energy, financials, industrials, and materials—ended with losses between 1.1% and 1.7% with financials posting the largest loss.

On the countercyclical side, the weakest sector of the year, telecom services (+1.0%), posted a solid loss while consumer staples (-0.9%), health care (-0.7%), and utilities (-0.3%) could not stay out of the red.

Treasuries booked solid gains, ending near their highs with the 10-yr yield down nine basis points at 2.78%. The safety bid was also reflected in gold futures (+1.9% to $1262.60) and the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 13.76, +0.92), which notched a fresh 2014 intraday high at 14.66% before retreating into the close.

The selloff invited above-average participation as 765 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.

Today's economic data included four reports:
The initial claims level increased to 326,000 from a downwardly revised 325,000 (from 326,000) while the consensus expected the reading to increase to 327,000. The seasonal problems from the holiday period have ended, and, as expected, the initial claims have settled around 330,000. The numbers suggest that there have been no notable changes in labor conditions over the last couple of months.
The November Housing Price Index from the FHFA increased 0.1%, which followed an uptick of 0.5% observed during the prior month.
December existing home sales increased 1.0% to 4.87 million from a downwardly revised 4.82 million (from 4.90 million). The consensus pegged December existing home sales at 4.90 million. For the year, 5.090 million homes were sold in 2013. That was the most homes sold since 2006. Unfortunately, the trends are moving in a negative direction. Year-over-year sales in December fell 0.6%. That was the second consecutive, monthly year-over-year decline. Before November, existing home sales had not declined on a year-over-year basis since June 2011.
The Conference Board's Index of Leading Indicators increased 0.1% in December after increasing an upwardly revised 1.0% (from 0.8%) in November. The consensus expected the leading indicators to increase 0.2%. On the surface, the drop in the index seems like economic growth is poised for a slowdown. However, the seasonal biases that negatively impacted the initial claims level throughout December resulted in a 0.34 percentage-point reduction in the growth of leading indicators. Now that the volatility has ended and claims have returned to their normal and lower level, the negative contribution should reverse next month.
There is no economic data of note on tomorrow's schedule.

Nasdaq Composite +1.0% YTD
Russell 2000 +0.9% YTD
S&P 500 -1.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.3% YTD

>>> Microsoft beats by $0.10, beats on revs --> +4,15% After Hours

Microsoft beats by $0.10, beats on revs 

Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.78 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.68; revenues rose 14.3% year/year to $24.52 bln vs the $23.67 bln consensus.
Devices and Consumer revenue grew 13% to $11.91 billion.
Windows OEM revenue declined 3%, reflecting strong 12% growth in Windows OEM Pro revenue, offset by continued softness in the consumer PC market.
Surface revenue more than doubled sequentially, from $400 million in the first quarter to $893 million in the second quarter.
The co sold 7.4 million Xbox console units into the retail channel, including 3.9 million Xbox One consoles and 3.5 million Xbox 360 consoles.
Bing search share grew to 18.2% and search advertising revenue grew 34%
Commercial revenue grew 10% to $12.67 billion.
SQL Server continued to gain market share with revenue growing double-digits.
System Center showed continued strength with double-digit revenue growth.
Commercial cloud services revenue more than doubled.
Office 365 commercial seats and Azure customers both grew triple-digits.
"Our Commercial segment continues to outpace the overall market, and our Devices and Consumer segment had a great holiday quarter... We significantly outpaced enterprise IT spend as we continue to take share from our competitors by delivering the devices and services our customers need as they transition to the cloud."

>>> Icahn bought another $500m of AAPl, taking its stake to $3.6b...sent letter

Apple: Icahn sent letter to AAPL Board requesting to increase buyback - SEC filing  

"...Tim Cook himself has expressed on more than one occasion that Apple is undervalued, and as the company states, it already has in place "the largest share repurchase authorization in history." We believe, however, that this share repurchase authorization can and should be even larger, and effectuating that for the benefit of all of the company's shareholders is the sole intention of our proposal. The company has recommended voting against our proposal for various reasons. It seems to us that the basis of its argument against our proposal is that the company believes, because of the "dynamic competitive landscape" and because its "rapid pace of innovation require[s] unprecedented investment, flexibility and access to resources", it does not currently have enough excess liquidity to increase the size of its repurchase program. Assuming this indeed is the basis for the company's argument, we find its position overly conservative (almost to the point of being irrational), when we consider that the company had $130 billion of net cash as of September 28, 2013 and that consensus earnings are expected to be almost $40 billion next year. Given this massive net cash position and robust earnings generation, Apple is perhaps the most overcapitalized company in corporate history, from our perspective. Regardless of what liquidity it may require with respect to "unprecedented investment, flexibility and access to resources" for innovation moving forward, we believe the unprecedented degree to which the company is currently overcapitalized would overcompensate for any such investments (including possible investments in strategic M&A, to which the company does not refer). Said another way, we believe that the combination of the company's unprecedentedly enormous net cash balance, robust annual earnings, and tremendous borrowing capacity provide more than enough excess liquidity to afford both the use of cash for any necessary ongoing business-related investments in addition to the cash used for the increased share repurchases proposed..."

(BFW) Brazil Prosecutors Said to Seek Order Against Alstom

 BN 01/23 19:49 *SAO PAULO SAID TO SEEK TO CANCEL ALSTOM BRAZIL CO. REGISTRATION
 BN 01/23 19:49 *SAO PAULO SAID TO SEEK TO HALT ALSTOM OPS IN BRAZIL
 BN 01/23 19:49 *SAO PAULO SAID TO HAVE REQUESTED DOCUMENTS FROM SWISS GOVT
 BN 01/23 19:49 *SAO PAULO PROSECUTORS SAID TO PREPARE REQUEST AGAINST ALSTOM
Brazil Prosecutors Said to Seek Order Against Alstom
2014-01-23 19:50:42.941 GMT


By Denyse Godoy
     Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Sao Paulo state’s public prosecutor
is preparing to ask a judge to halt Alstom’s operations in
Brazil and cancel the company’s registration in the country,
according to a government official familiar with the case who
asked not to be named because the plans aren’t public.
  * Prosecutors are awaiting depositions, banking records and
    other documents requested from Swiss officials before moving
    forward with the request
  * Prosecutors have already received depositions from French
    officials regarding alleged bribery
  * NOTE: Alstom is accused of paying bribes in 1998 to extend a
    1983 government contract to provide equipment for subway
    power stations in Sao Paulo city
  * NOTE: Some Alstom executives and ex-officials are also the
    subject of a criminal investigation regarding the bribery
    probe
  * “Alstom vehemently repudiates any insinuation that there is
    a company policy of irregular payments to obtain
    contracts,” the company’s press office in Sao Paulo said in
    an e-mailed statement. “Alstom has never refused to provide
    any clarifications requested by authorities.”


Link to Company News:{ALO FP <Equity> CN <GO>}

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First Word scrolling panel: {FIRST<GO>}
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To contact the reporter on this story:
Denyse Godoy in Sao Paulo at +55-11-3048-4636 or
dgodoy2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jessica Brice at +55-11-3048-4533 or
jbrice1@bloomberg.net

>>> Barrick Gold Corp Exec: Met cost guidance for 2013, reserves in gold may be

Barrick Gold Corp Exec: Met cost guidance for 2013, reserves in gold may be lower for a range of factors and valuing our reserves at a conservative $1100/ounce - CIBC conf presentation comments
- Met 2013 Guidance: Met original gold production guidance of 7.0-7.4 Moz and AISC guidance of $900-$975/oz; Met Copper production guidance of 520-550 Mlbs at C1 cash cost guidance of $1.90-$2.00/lb. Also met Capex guidance of $4.5-$5.0B 
- 2014 Outlook: Not surprisingly, we expect lower gold production in 2014, Copper production to be "somewhat lower". Capex to be significantly lower. 
- expecting output at Cortez mine to be lower this year 
- considering potential impairments at some operations, will be reflected in final FY results 
- Will continue disciplined capital allocations even if it means lower production or mine closures.