>>> US Gapping Up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: SYNC +8.4%, MUX +5.3%, CSX +3.5%, ASML +3.2%, BAC +2.6%, SN +2.4%, PPHM +2.2%, AEHR +1.9%, (also announced that Gary Larson VP of Finance/CFO plans to retire effective September 8; intends to name Corporate Controller Ken Spink to serve as interim CFO), SAR +1.7%, ADTN +1.2%, PNC +0.5%

M&A news: RCPT +10.5% (to be acquired by Celgene (CELG) for $232/share in cash, or ~$7.2 bln), CELG +7%

Select financial related names showing strength: GS +1.1%, C +1%, MS +0.8%.

Select bio/pharma stocks trading higher: PTCT +12.5% (also, upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan), ARNA +4%, ICPT +2.7%, ZIOP +2.4%, GILD +1.4%, NVO +0.8%


Other news: PETX +7.3% ( announces positive results from its pivotal field effectiveness study of AT-003 for treating post-surgical pain in dogs), MUX +5.3% (reports quarterly production at its El Gallo Mine of 17,325 gold equivalent ounces, above guidance for the quarter), REX +3.7% ( to replace SYNA in the S&P SmallCap 600), SYT +3.5% (Paulson & Co building a stake in the company to back takeover attempt by Monsanto (MON), according to Bloomberg Report), NBG +3.5% (cont vol surrounding Greece Parliament vote today), OCAT +2.5% (receives US patent for its retinal pigment epithelium transplant technology for macular degeneration), FNBC +2.2% (to replace RTI in the S&P SmallCAp 600), SIXD +2.1% (provides business updates),NSC +1.8% (following CSX earnings), FIT +1.8% (cont vol post IPO), GPRO +1.7% (still checking), EYES +1.6% (announces expansion of Argus II availability in Europe), AMD +1% (ASML peer)

Analyst comments: CLSN +12.9% (initiated with a Buy at Maxim Group; tgt $12), GES +6.1% (upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Telsey Advisory Group), LNKD +2.6% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays), QRVO +2.4% (initiated with a Buy at Mizuho), FCAU +1.6% (initiated with a Outperform at Credit Suisse), PNRA +1.4% (upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at Piper Jaffray
)

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: ATI -7.8%, MRTN -5.9%, MJN -4.9%, DAL -1.5%, YUM -1.4%

Select China related names showing weakness with Shanghai down 3% overnight: JMEI -4.9%, CMCM -4.5%, SOHU -2.3%, SFUN -2.1%, LFC -1.3%, JD -1.2%

Other news: CPPL -6.6% (attributed to secondary pricing), DBVT -4.3% (prices offering of 3,600,000 ordinary shares in the form of 7,200,000 ADSs, at $34.00 per ADS), CBAY -3.9% (announces proposed public offering of common stock), RDHL -3.9% ( announces public offering of its ADRs), RARE -3% (announces a $250 mln offering of common stock), SFY -1.6% (to be removed from the S&P SmallCap 600)

Analyst comments: ABB -1.3% (downgraded to Sell at Baader Helvea), LLY -1% (downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley), TI -0.9% (removed from Conviction Buy list at Goldman), YHOO -0.6% (target lowered to $50 from $59 at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey)

(GS) Liberty Global : upgraded to Conv. Buy List

‘Liberty 3.0’ to accelerate growth, high M&A optionality: Buy; onto CL

Source of opportunity
We believe that LBTY’s rebased OCF growth rate will accelerate into the
high-single digits in 2016-17, as a new ‘Liberty 3.0’ investment program
adds a further boost, on top of the announced ‘Project Lightning’ network
expansion in the UK. Assuming c.$30 bn of share buybacks in the absence
of further M&A, we estimate FCF/share will reach $8 by 2021 (when these
investments end), justifying our ‘base-case’ valuation of c.$60/share. Also,
LBTY has multiple options to make accretive in-market mobile acquisitions,
allowing it to capture a share of c.$20-30 bn of potential synergy value. We
reiterate our Buy rating and add LBTY to our European Conviction List.


Catalyst
We expect a strong 2H acceleration in both KPIs and rebased OCF growth
after a seasonally weaker 2Q (revs +3%/OCF +4% yoy, c.150k RGU adds). We
expect an inflection in the Netherlands, where a 2Q drag from restructuring
charges becomes a 2H tailwind from synergy capture, while early Lightning
sub gains should drive a strong 4Q RGU recovery. We believe ‘Liberty 3.0’
can add further momentum from 2016: we expect management to recycle
restructuring savings from integrating the OpCo’s into investment in
footprint expansion (notably in German broadband) and product quality
improvements, which should drive revenue and OCF growth. We estimate
‘Liberty 3.0’ will add c.10-15% to long-term FCF and >100 bp to OCF CAGR.
Along with lower interest costs, we lift our FCF/shr estimates by 1-19%.

Valuation
Our 12m, ROIC-based price target increases to $70, from $69, on higher
forecasts. We take no view on the outcome of negotiations with Vodafone,
but include $10/shr for LT M&A optionality; at our $60/shr base-case
valuation, LBTY would trade on a 6% 2016 FCF yield ex-Lightning/3.0 capex.

Key risks
Downside risks include competitive or regulatory pressure in all markets;
execution of mobile acquisitions; capital discipline in acquiring content; FX.

(BFW) IMF’s Greece Stance May Mean Increase in Europe’s Bill: JPM

IMF’s Greece Stance May Mean Increase in Europe’s Bill: JPM
2015-07-15 11:31:23.692 GMT


By Deborah L Hyde
(Bloomberg) -- The IMF’s report on Greece suggests the fund
will no longer tolerate a fudge of the nation’s debt
sustainability analysis and could mean the entire funding of the
third program comes from euro zone, JPMorgan analyst Malcolm
Barr writes in client note.

* A possible solution would be to lay out changes in the
maturity and interest rates on lending to Greece which are
contingent on nominal GDP growth and progress on structural
reform
* Would require terms that imply a lot of NPV debt relief
compared to the debt’s current terms
* If the euro zone isn’t prepared to do that, the IMF may
decide it can no longer put funds into the Greek program
and the the euro zone would have to foot the bill
* That could include the EU16b that has been penciled in
for the IMF to provide and either buying the IMF’s EU22b
of existing loans to Greece or at least indemnifying the
IMF against losses on those loans
* NOTE: Valdis Dombrovskis, EC vice president for euro policy,
says there’s no prospect for bilateral aid to Greece


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

To contact the reporter on this story:
Deborah L Hyde in London at +44-20-3525-4829 or
dhyde10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Deborah L Hyde at +44-20-3525-4829 or
dhyde10@bloomberg.net
V. Ramakrishnan

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers
Gapping up: RCPT +10.2%, SYNC +8.4%, PETX +7.3%, CELG +5.9%, ARNA +4%, REX +3.7%, NBG +3.5%, CSX +3.4%, ASML +3.2%, BAC +2.7%, SYT +2.6%, QRVO +2.6%, FNBC +2.2%, AMD +2%, LNKD +1.9%, AEHR +1.9%, NSC +1.8%, SAR +1.7%, FIT +1.6%, BHP +1.4%, GILD +1.4%, RIO +1.4%, GPRO +1.4%, PNRA +1.3%, SYNA +1.2%, NVO +1.2%, C+1%, ARMH +0.8%, GS +0.8%, CMI +0.7%, SN +0.7%, NFLX +0.6%

Gapping down: ATI -7.7%, MRTN -5.9%, JMEI -4.9%, MJN -4.7%, CMCM -4.5%, LEI -4.5%, CBAY -4.3%, RDHL -3.9%, DBVT -3.2%, DBVT -3.2%, RARE -3%, JD -2.4%, SOHU -2.3%, MGNX -2%, SFY -1.6%, YHOO -1%, YUM -0.8%, PPHM -0.7%, MIC -0.5%

>>> Bank of America beats by $0.09, beats on revs

BAC -->+2.57% pre open

Bank of America beats by $0.09, beats on revs

Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.45 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.36; revenues rose 1.8% year/year to $22.34 bln vs the $21.72 bln consensus. BAC reported Q2 net income of $5.3 billion compared to $2.3 billion in the year-ago period.
  • Q2 Net interest income included $669 million ($0.04 per share) in positive market-related adjustments, primarily from the company's debt securities portfolio, due to the impact of higher long-term interest rates. This compares with $175 million in negative market-related adjustments in the year-ago quarter.
  • Global Wealth and Investment Management reported net income of $690 million, compared to $726 million in 2Q14. Revenue was relatively stable at $4.6 billion, as a 9% increase in asset management fees and higher net interest income from loan growth were offset by the impact of the company's allocation of ALM activities on net interest income, and lower transactional revenue.
  • Global Markets reported net income of $993 million, compared to $1.1 billion in prior year, reflecting lower gains on an equity investment and, to a lesser degree, lower sales and trading revenue. This was offset in part by reduced noninterest expense.
  • Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities sales and trading revenue, excluding net DVA, decreased 9% y/y, due to declines in credit-related businesses, offset in part by an improvement in macro products on increased client activity.
  • Equities sales and trading revenue, excluding net DVA, increased 13% from the year-ago quarter, reflecting increased client activity in the Asia-Pacific region and strong performance in derivatives..
  • Legacy Assets and Servicing reported net income of $45 million, compared to a loss of $2.7 billion for 2Q14, driven by lower expenses, primarily litigation expense, and a benefit in the provision for representations and warranties.
Capital Levels
  • The Common equity tier 1 capital was 10.3% (Fully phased in Basel 3)
  • Estimated supplementary leverage ratio for the Bank Holding Company was approximately 6.3% and the estimated SLR for the company's primary banking entity was approximately 7.0%.
  • Tangible book value per share was $15.02; Book value per share was $21.91.

(GS) Vodafone Down to Neutral : Remove from Pan Europe Buy List

Down to Neutral as risk-reward becomes more binary, FX weighs

* What happened
We downgrade Vodafone/VOD to Neutral from Buy. Post recent outperformance
around the announcement that it is in talks with Liberty
Global about a potential asset swap, we believe risk-reward appears more
binary. On our updated forecasts (which fall due to FX/German spectrum),
our base-case valuation excluding potential M&A is c.220p/share. While
we do not take a view on potential outcomes from talks with LBTY, our
revised illustrative scenario analysis suggests upside above 280p/share is
unlikely. Since adding VOD.L to the Buy List on Dec 4, 2014 the stock is
+5.8% vs. the FTSE World Europe +2.1%; VOD is +4.2% vs. S&P 500 +1.3%.

* Current view
We continue to view Vodafone as a leading beneficiary of ongoing
‘double’ consolidation of both mobile and fixed-mobile operators, which
supports a gradual return to top-line growth in Europe (although the
upcoming regulatory ruling on Danish consolidation is a risk). We see
attractive operational gearing to this growth recovery given its low
margins. We also believe VOD enjoys substantial M&A optionality – recent
acquisitions of mobile operators by BT/Liberty Global suggest that the
strategic value of mobile network ownership in a converging market is
material, balancing the structural risk Vodafone currently faces as a
mobile-centric fixed-line wholesaler. Additionally, if management is willing
to reconsider the structure of the group, we believe a number of other
potential acquirers could take interest in its remaining assets.

Our revised 12-month SOTP-based price target of 250p (down from 275p,
largely due to 5%-7% lower FCF forecasts) implies only modest upside.
Excluding potential M&A, our 220p/share base-case valuation implies
target multiples broadly in line with peers on EV/NOPAT/equity FCF yield;
we add 30p/share to reflect the potential for Vodafone to capture a share of
large available cost and possible tax synergies in an M&A scenario. Key
up/downside risks include execution on potential M&A, EC regulatory
support for consolidation, and competitive outcomes in all markets.

(Telgraph)'Sexual consent contracts’ are now a thing: So would you sign?


'Sexual consent contracts’ are now a thing: So would you sign?
{http://instantconsent.com/}
'Consent kits' complete with contracts, are being distributed to students at US universities with the intention of ensuring that both parties have agreed to sex. Olivia Goldhill reports

When 'sexual consent contracts' are being offered to young people as a serious option - and not a joke - you know something has gone terribly wrong.

Sexual consent has rightly become a heated topic, especially on university campuses, where students are often experimenting with their first sexual encounters.
A Telegraph survey found that one in three female undergraduates in the UK say they've been sexually assaulted while at university, and many prestigious institutions have been accused of failing to address sexual violence on campus.
In the United States, several Ivy League universities have been investigated and disciplined by the Obama administration for not addressing sexual assault complaints.
Meanwhile, a former Oxford graduate student attempted to sue the university after it refused to investigate her reported rape by a fellow student during her Master’s degree.
Oxford and Cambridge now hold mandatory sexual consent workshops for students during freshers week, to discuss 'myths and misunderstandings' around rape and harassment.
But the latest attempt to address concerns over sexual consent seems more problematic than useful.
An advocacy group, The Affirmative Consent Project, is distributing 'sexual consent kits' to universities across the United States.
What on earth is a sexual consent contract?
Alison Berke, founder of the project, says the group has sold or given away at least 1,000 of the kits to students. The packages cost $1.99 (£1.29) and include a condom, pen, some breath mints… and a sex contract.
Photo: instantconsent.com
The contract reads “YES! We agree to have SEX!” and has space for both parties to sign, stating that they 'agree to have consensual sex with one another'.
The couple are also encouraged to take a photo of themselves holding the contract.
“By having the condom in the pack, the idea is that as you reach for your protection you see the contract and it might make you stop and think, and take consent into consideration when you decide to be intimate with someone,” explains Berke.
“The consent kits are really meant to be conversation starters. They are a way to break the ice. We don't expect people to use the contract as a legal document.”
A smartphone app, We-Consent, has also been launched by a separate group, and allows couples to record their consent before having sex.
We-Consent users states their names on camera and, if they are both clearly heard saying “yes”, then the app responds with: “Consent confirmed. Have fun.”
Should we be signing before sex?
Although sexual consent contracts have been offered as a genuine attempt to develop students’ understanding, the idea of using a formal contract to record consent is problematic for several reasons.
Dave Llewellyn, who founded the Good Lad Workshop at Oxford University to encourage students to act like 'good guys', says that contracts are often suggested by those being facetious.
“When we talk about a scenario that’s quite difficult in terms of consent, you find that some guys feel frustrated and say, ‘I don’t what I'm supposed to do. Should I pull out a contract and make them sign it?’,” he says.
“I think having a piece of paper and a signed contract is a bit ridiculous and it sounds like an excuse for people to not engage in learning about consent.”
Llewellyn says that contracts are a simplistic response to the question of consent: listening to your partner, recognising how an enthusiastic sexual partner behaves, and making sure both people are comfortable throughout sex.
Consent should, he says, be explicit throughout a sexual experience – it shouldn’t be reduced to a signature on a piece of paper. Llewellyn encourages student to think about the kind of sex they want to have. “If you’re having good sex with someone who really likes you, then you’re already past these issues,” he says.
Consent contracts are also troubling because sexual consent is not frozen at one point in time.
“All that written contract really says is that we consented when we were both standing here, writing this. You may then start having intercourse and suddenly one of the people is not comfortable with what’s happening and then consent disappears,” says Llewellyn. “People are allowed to change their minds and should be empowered to change their minds at any stage.”

Breach of contract?
Alison Berke admits that the sexual consent contract carries no weight as a legal document, but the form could also cause legal difficulties.
Barrister Felicity Gerry QC, who specialises in tackling sexual offences, says that if someone signed a consent form but was later forced to have sex, the document could undermine a rape complaint.
“There’s a lack of uniformity on what rape means,” she says. “Drafting terms would be very problematic – would you say yes to vaginal but not anal, with or without fingers, in and out how many times? How would such an agreement be enforced?”
Rape is also a serious crime, not a civil matter. “It’s wrong to reduce rape to a breach of contract,” adds Gerry.
In recent times, both US and UK universities have come under fire for reportedly failing to properly address sexual assault on campus. In New York, Columbia University is currently being sued by a male student who was accused of rape (he was found 'not responsible' by the university) and whose alleged victim, Emma Sulkowicz said the university failed to carry out a thorough investigation and carried a mattress around campus as protest.
Sex contracts have been introduced to help the conversation surrounding consent, and to create a more pro-active approach to ensuring that your sexual partner is a willing participant.
But, though the intentions are well-meaning, it’s clear that this is an overly-simplistic and potentially harmful solution to the question of sexual consent.
Consent shouldn’t be reduced to a signature.
Sexual partners should be bound together by chemistry and mutual desire, not documentation, and should be able to change their minds whenever they like. Contractual agreements belong in the boardroom, not the bedroom.

(TEL) Eton in a Mess: Private School Sends Conditional Offer to 400 Pupils By Mi

{http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11739774/Thats-an-Eton-mess-private-school-sends-conditional-offer-to-400-pupils-by-mistake.html}

Eton in a mess: private school sends conditional offer to 400 pupils by mistake
Eton College has apologised after mistakenly emailing hundreds of boys telling them they had won a conditional place at the top private school.


Eton College has apologised after mistakenly emailing hundreds of boys telling them they had won a conditional place at the top private school.
The elite school has also launched an investigation into the IT glitch after emails that were only intended for nine families were accidentally sent out to an additional 400 families.
The other applicants’ families incorrectly received the email telling them their sons too had been granted a conditional acceptance for the September 2017 intake, the Guardian reported.
Eton College said in a statement: “Last week a systems error occurred which resulted in an email intended for nine families to inform them that their son had been offered a conditional place at Eton College in September 2017, being incorrectly sent to a further 400 recipients.
“This error was discovered within minutes and each family was immediately contacted to notify them that it should be disregarded and to apologise.
“We take this type of incident very seriously indeed and so a thorough investigation, overseen by the Head Master Tony Little and led by the Tutor for Admissions, is being carried out to find out exactly what went wrong and ensure it cannot happen again.
“Eton College offers its sincere apologies to those boys concerned and their families. We deeply regret the confusion and upset this must have caused.”
Eton College is one of the most difficult schools in the country to get into and pupils get access through a very tough assessment system.
Ralph Lucas, the editor in chief of the Good Schools Guide, which offers advice to parents who want to send their children to places like Eton, said the refusal must have been “very painful” for them.
He said: “This is a very uncommon error. Schools are terribly careful about who they offer places to because you mess people up if you give them the wrong information.
“That’s something that shouldn’t happen and I am sure it was very painful for the families concerned. They should have been more careful and I am sure they are extremely upset by what they have done.
“To hurt that number of people is more than they would be hurt when they receive the refusal. I can’t see it as being gross negligence but just a slip of the finger. Still it is most unfortunate for the people at the other end of it.
“That moment they received the email would have given a lot of parents a moment of elation and it deepened the disappointment to learn of the mistake.”
Fees at the boarding school, which educated David Cameron and other members of the British elite, are around £34,000 a year.
The school offers roughly 130 scholarships each year through various schemes.
State schools have a right to withdraw an offer if it was given as the result of an actual mistake.
However, public schools have their rules on offers and their own appeals process.
John Chard of the parental advisory service School Appeals said it was unlikely many parents would be able to overturn the withdrawal.
Mr Chard said: "Clearly, there’s no way the school can’t not reverse it as it is the result of a genuine error.
"I suspect there will be an internal appeals process but it’s unlikely that many parents will be successful because the school won’t be able to accommodate that number."
Eton in a Mess: Private School Sends Conditional Offer to 400 Pupils By Mistake
2015-07-15 08:12:54.307 GMT


Javier Espinoza
July 14 (Telegraph) -- Eton College has apologised after
mistakenly emailing hundreds of boys telling them they had won a
conditional place at the top private school.
Eton College has apologised after mistakenly emailing
hundreds of boys telling them they had won a conditional place at
the top private school.
The elite school has also launched an investigation into the
IT glitch after emails that were only intended for nine families
were accidentally sent out to an additional 400 families.
The other applicants’ families incorrectly received the
email telling them their sons too had been granted a conditional
acceptance for the September 2017 intake, the Guardian reported.
Eton College said in a statement: “Last week a systems error
occurred which resulted in an email intended for nine families to
inform them that their son had been offered a conditional place
at Eton College in September 2017, being incorrectly sent to a
further 400 recipients.
“This error was discovered within minutes and each family
was immediately contacted to notify them that it should be
disregarded and to apologise.
“We take this type of incident very seriously indeed and so
a thorough investigation, overseen by the Head Master Tony Little
and led by the Tutor for Admissions, is being carried out to find
out exactly what went wrong and ensure it cannot happen again.
“Eton College offers its sincere apologies to those boys
concerned and their families. We deeply regret the confusion and
upset this must have caused.”
Eton College is one of the most difficult schools in the
country to get into and pupils get access through a very tough
assessment system.
• Cost of private education nearing £1 million, study finds•
'There's a price to pay for pushing pupils to obtain top results'
Ralph Lucas, the editor in chief of the Good Schools Guide,
which offers advice to parents who want to send their children to
places like Eton, said the refusal must have been “very painful”
for them.
He said: “This is a very uncommon error. Schools are
terribly careful about who they offer places to because you mess
people up if you give them the wrong information.
“That’s something that shouldn’t happen and I am sure it was
very painful for the families concerned. They should have been
more careful and I am sure they are extremely upset by what they
have done.
“To hurt that number of people is more than they would be
hurt when they receive the refusal. I can’t see it as being gross
negligence but just a slip of the finger. Still it is most
unfortunate for the people at the other end of it.
“That moment they received the email would have given a lot
of parents a moment of elation and it deepened the disappointment
to learn of the mistake.”
Fees at the boarding school, which educated David Cameron
and other members of the British elite, are around £34,000 a
year.
The school offers roughly 130 scholarships each year through
various schemes.
State schools have a right to withdraw an offer if it was
given as the result of an actual mistake.
• St Andrews wrongly tells hundreds of students their
applications were successful
However, public schools have their rules on offers and their
own appeals process.
John Chard of the parental advisory service School Appeals
said it was unlikely many parents would be able to overturn the
withdrawal.
Mr Chard said: "Clearly, there’s no way the school can’t not
reverse it as it is the result of a genuine error.
"I suspect there will be an internal appeals process but
it’s unlikely that many parents will be successful because the
school won’t be able to accommodate that number."

-0- Jul/15/2015 08:12 GMT