Seeking Alpha - Stock Market News & Financial Analysis

MARKET CURRENTS

8:50 AM More on Wal-Mart (WMT) vs. Amazon (previous): As Wal-Mart pushes harder to compete with Amazon online, a giant albatross hangs around its head with complicated extra layers of distribution adding to its costs. The retailer's online shipping costs come to around $5 to $7 per parcel compared to the $3 to $4 Amazon sees. 1 Comment [Consumer]
8:49 AM Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) says eteplirsen (I, II) continues to show promise in improving the walking ability of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients after 84 weeks. Shares +4% premarket. (PR) Comment! [Healthcare, On the Move]
8:46 AM Statoil (STO) says it is on track to reach its Norway production targets of more than 1.4M bbl/day of oil and 2.5M boe/day in 2020. STO's production guidance for FY 2013 also stays firm and is expected to be lower than in the previous year. STO produced more than 2T boe in FY 2012. (also) Comment! [Energy]
8:46 AM Paris Air Show: Having just concluded a deal for 175 Boeing (BA) 737-800s, Ryanair (RYAAY) is veering towards choosing the 737 MAX over Airbus' A320neo jet in an order for 200 planes that would be worth $20B at list prices. Boeing has the advantage because of Airbus' backlog and because the MAX will offer 189 seats, nine more than the A320. What Ryanair CEO Michael O'Reilly would really like, though, is a narrow-body jet with 199 seats. Comment! [Top Stories]
8:40 AM MasterCard (MA) and Western Union (WU) will partner on a new international payments service geared toward small and medium-sized businesses. The service will feature a dedicated online foreign payments portal to help facilitate cross-border trade. Comment! [Consumer]
8:38 AM Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA) sinks 14% premarket after Adam Feuerstein raises questions about the design of the company's Phase 3 trial for Tasimelteon (previous) which he says has "changed numerous times." Specifically, Feuerstein notes that the company changed the primary endpoint to a measure it created which "has never been used before in sleep-drug clinical trials [and is not ] endorsed by the FDA." Comment! [Healthcare, On the Move]
8:34 AM KKR is among the bidders for a majority stake in Saudi fast food chain Kudu, reports Reuters. The company operates over 200 restaurants in the kingdom and could be valued in the area of $260M-$390M, according to a source. Carlyle Group (CG) was also reached out to for a bid, but has reportedly declined to participate. Comment! [Financials, M&A]
8:32 AM Petrobras (PBR) says it could team with Sinopec (SNP) to build a refinery in the Brazilian state of Maranhao that would help reduce heavy imports of gasoline and diesel. Brazil desperately needs to increase refining capacity as growing consumption of gasoline and diesel outpaces current processing capacity. PBR earlier announced a similar study to build a refinery in nearby Ceara state with South Korea's GS Energy. Comment! [Energy]
8:29 AM Vivus' (VVUS +4.3%) Stendra drug for erectile dysfunction demonstrated a statistically significant improvement vs a placebo a trial of 440 patients between the ages of 40 and 70, with the aim being for the medication to take effect within 15 minutes of being consumed. A major problem with other treatments is that patients are advised to wait 1-2 hours for the drugs take effect, or they have to be consumed daily. (PR) Comment! [Healthcare, On the Move]
8:24 AM Netflix (NFLX) says it will expand into the Netherlands later this year as its European footprint gets even wider. Press reports in Europe indicate France and Belgium could be the next frontiers for the company which now has approximately 7.1M international users. Comment! [Consumer]