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MARKET CURRENTS

  • 3:48 PM Blackstone (BX -1.4%) announces the hiring of General Wesley Clark as a senior advisor on energy investments, where he will provide his expertise to the P-E firm's $2.5B energy-dedicated buyout fund and the $16.7B diversified P-E fund. Clark will also get a board seat at Fisterra Energy - a Blackstone company formed this year to develop power projects in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. Comment! [Financials]
  • 3:44 PM George Zimmer on his ouster from Men's Wearhouse (MW -0.8%): "Over the past several months I have expressed my concerns to the board about the direction the company is currently heading. Instead of fostering the kind of dialogue in the boardroom that has in part contributed to our success, the board has inappropriately chosen to silence my concerns through termination as an executive officer." In addition to saying Zimmer might have "had trouble letting go," Stifel notes that MW still "has the legal right to his image." Comment! [On the Move]
  • 3:42 PM Attempting to alleviate any shareholder concern over accelerated debt repayments, Corvex and Related pledge to offer to buy 51% of CommonWealth REIT's (CWH -0.7%) outstanding debt should they win the ouster of the company's entire board. Comment! [Financials]
  • 3:33 PM Paris Air Show: Rolls-Royce (RYCEY.PK -1.4%) says it wants to cut costs right across its aero-engine business to match the productivity of its major competitors, even as the U.K. engineering company ramps up production to meet booming demand for more fuel-efficient passenger jets. The company says it plans to slim down its portfolio, targeting increased sales of a narrower range of products. Comment! [On the Move]
  • 3:30 PM The CF Industries (CF +1%) ammonia plant where a fatal blast occurred last week will be idle for weeks longer than scheduled, but the extra downtime will have little impact on nitrogen output or the ability to supply customers, according to the manager of the Louisiana complex: "This is a small part of our operation... We'll have to redistribute product from different places, but overall it won't have an impact." Comment! [Commodities]
  • 3:29 PM "We've got them boxed and bracketed," Boeing (BA -1.2%) boasts, regarding competition in the wide-body market (i.e. the A350). Airbus (EADSF.PK -2.1%) is "trying to address this really broad market with one family of three types," BA's Randy Tinseth says, adding that his company's opportunity is larger because its products "address more of the market." A confident Fabrice Bregier shoots back, saying Airbus will have "at least" 50% of the wide-body market going forward and notes that the A350 has outsold the 787 by a 3:1 ratio over five years. "That's a corner I want to stay boxed into," Bregier says. Comment!
  • 3:13 PM Markets start to fall in earnest as the reality of a tapering and then ending in QE sinks in - even as the chairman is at pains to prove it's anything but a tightening move. The DJIA (DIA -0.8%) is off 145 points as the 10-year Treasury yield soars 15 bps to 2.33%, its highest level in 2 years. Reversing sizable early gains is the mREIT sector (REM -2.3%) - a leveraged holder of the paper the Fed will no longer be buying - with American Capital (AGNC -2%), (MTGE -1.5%), Annaly (NLY -2.2%), Invesco (IVR -2.5%), Two Harbors (TWO -3.5%), and Anworth (ANH -2.2%) leading the way. The greenback (UUP +0.9%) continues to fly higher. 7 Comments [On the Move]
  • 3:12 PM Onglyza, a diabetes drug co-marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY -1.3%) and AstraZeneca (AZN -1.2%), failed to reduce the risk of heart attacks and related disease compared with a placebo in a big clinical trial. The drug was approved by the FDA in 2009 to treat type 2 diabetes, but required a large clinical trial to assess its cardiovascular safety. The outcome disappointed those hoping for a boost to the market for type 2 diabetes pills, and could have implications for other companies with similar drugs, including Merck's (MRK) blockbuster Januvia. Comment! [Healthcare, On the Move]
  • 3:08 PM Urban Outfitters (URBN -1.6%) continues to impress retail watchers with the steady growth of its direct-to-consumer channels (24% of total sales). Management's acumen at expanding online and catalog sales is one of the reasons the company's revenue and growth rates has beat peers Aeropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, Buckle, and Abercrombie & Fitch. Comment! [Consumer]
  • 3:00 PM On the hour: Dow -0.70%. 10-yr -1.07%. Euro -0.88% vs. dollar. Crude -0.58% to $98.16. Gold -0.58% to $1358.35. Comment!
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TOP ARTICLES3:49 PM ET WEDNESDAY JUN 19
DIA -1.10%
SPY -1.19%
QQQ -1.07%
GLD -1.25%
ETF Movers
CCX WisdomTree Commodity Currency ETF 1.22%
BUND PIMCO Germany Bond Index ETF 0.74%

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