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U.S. stock index opened lower on Wednesday, as investorsstruggled to find reasons to keep buying with indexes stillhovering near record levels. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.37 percent at 16,883.09, the S&P 500 was down 0.27 percent at 1,945.43 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 17.78 points, or 0.41 percent, at 4,320.22.
** APPLE INC, $94.225, -0.03 pct
** STARBUCKS CORP, $74.155, -0.60 pct
The European Commission said it had opened three in-depthinvestigations into tax decisions affecting Apple, Starbucks andFiat Finance and Trade in Ireland, the Netherlands andLuxembourg respectively.
** JPMORGAN CHASE & CO, $57.58, -0.55 pct
Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake affirmed theinvestment bank's earlier statements that second-quarter capitalmarkets revenue would likely be down about 20 percent from ayear earlier.
** THE BANCORP, $10.6, -34.57 pct
The lender said it will be restricted from issuingnon-benefit relodable prepaid card programs until it complieswith obligations issued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp,under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The bank said it would incuradditional expenses associated with these actions.
Brokerage BTIG downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy",citing uncertainty over the timing of a potential approval ofthe company's BSA report.
** ELI LILLY AND CO, $59.59, -0.27 pct
Eli Lilly and Co's LLY.N recently approved stomach cancerdrug Cyramza failed to prolong the lives of patients withadvanced liver cancer in a late-stage trial, the drugmaker saidon Wednesday.
** INTERPUBLIC GROUP OF COS, $19.61, +0.15 pct
CNBC's Jim Cramer mentioned the advertising company as apotential takeover target on his show "May Money" on Tuesday,according to Benzinga.com.
** CBS CORP, $63, +3.06 pct
The owner of the most watched U.S. television network saidit would divest its 81 percent stake in CBS Outdoor Americas Inc, its outdoor advertising unit, over three days fromJuly 7. The company's shareholders would be able to exchange allor some of their Class B common stock for CBS Outdoor shares ata 7 percent discount.
** PORTOLA PHARMACEUTICALS INC, $24.93, +3.83 pct
The company said its experimental drug reversed the effectof a generic blood thinner in a mid-stage study, indicating thedrug would allow coagulation in cases of excessive bleeding orurgent surgery.
** SANDISK CORP, $98.31, +1.20 pct
Bofa Merrill Lynch raised its rating to "buy" from"underperform" on the memory chipmaker's stock, according tobenzinga.com.
** BANK OF AMERICA CORP, $15.695, -1.41 pct
The bank and the U.S. Department of Justice have reached animpasse in negotiating a multibillion-dollar settlement relatedto BofA's mortgage investments, the New York Times reportedciting people briefed on the matter.
** AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP INC, $54.85, -0.29pct
The insurer said Peter Hancock would succeed RobertBenmosche as CEO and president, effective Sept. 1.
** INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP, $183.87,-0.23 pct
The tech giant is nearing a deal to sell its chip-makingbusiness to contract chipmaker Globalfoundries Inc, Bloombergreported, citing people familiar with the matter.
** MORGAN STANLEY, $31.82, -0.81 pct
The company will "probably" close sales of two physicalcommodities businesses in the third quarter, CEO James Gormansaid.
** BP PLC, $50.77, -0.35 pct
** AEROVIRONMENT INC, $35.31, -0.34 pct
British Petroleum has been authorized to use unmannedaircraft to survey pipelines and other infrastructure onAlaska's North Slope, the first commercial drone flights overU.S. land, government authorities said on Tuesday, giving aboost to the tiny aircraft's manufacturer AeroVironment.
** AMAZON.COM INC, $338.74, +1.90 pct
The retailer plans to launch a marketplace later this yearfor local services - a broad term encompassing anything frombabysitters to handymen to birthday clowns - beginning with asingle market, several people familiar with the matter said.
** OREXIGEN THERAPEUTICS INC, $5.77, -15.27 pct
The company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administrationdelayed its decision on the marketing application of its obesitydrug, contrave, by three months.
** LULULEMON ATHLETICA INC, $44.745, -1.62 pct
Founder Chip Wilson said he voted against the re-election ofChairman Michael Casey and RoAnn Costin to the yogawearretailer's board.
** EXELON CORP, $36.79, -1.00 pct
The utility company said it would offer 50 million shares ofits common stock and 20 million equity units for sale. The netproceeds would be used to partly finance the acquisition ofPepco Holdings Inc.
Each equity unit will comprise a contract to purchase Exeloncommon stock by June 1, 2017 and a 1/20 undivided beneficialownership interest in $1,000 principal amount of Exelon's juniorsubordinated notes due 2024.
** HILTON WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS INC, $22.75, -2.90 pct
The hotel operator said some of its shareholders wereselling 90 million Hilton shares at $23.04 per share, a slightdiscount to the stock's Tuesday close of $23.43. The companysaid it would not receive any proceeds from the sale.
** BIOFUEL ENERGY CORP, $8.98, +55.50 pct
The ethanol producer said it would buy real-estate assetscontrolled by Greenlight Capital Inc and real estate investorJames Brickman for $275 million in cash and stock.
** MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC, $30.52, +3.42 pct
Credit Suisse raised its price target to $50 from $30 on thechipmaker's stock, citing enterprise demand for its DRAM memorychips used in personal computers.
Prices for DRAM chips made by Micron, Samsung Electronics CoLtd and SK Hynix Inc have bounced backfrom a deep memory chip price slump in 2012 that led somechipmakers to throttle back production.
** H&R BLOCK INC, $32.19, +4.75 pct
The tax preparer's fourth-quarter earnings rose to $3.29 pershare from $2.42, after the company exited unprofitable retailpartnerships and improved its online tax-preparation softwareoffering.
** RAMBUS INC, $13.28, +7.44 pct
The technology licensing company raised its second-quarterrevenue forecast to $75 million-$77 million, from its previouslystated range of $69 million-$74 million.
Rambus also entered into a patent license agreement withQualcomm Global Trading Pte Ltd, a unit of Qualcomm Inc. The agreement gives Qualcomm Inc and its units accessto patented memory, interface, and security technologies fromRambus. The company said other terms of the agreement wereconfidential.
** SYNAPTICS INC, $84.98, +27.75 pct
The touchscreen chipmaker's Chief Executive Rick Bergmansaid he would be "thrilled" to win back Apple as a customerafter agreeing to buy the sole supplier of display driver chipsfor its iPhone.
** PENN VIRGINIA CORP, $13.87, -1.70 pct
The oil and gas producer said on Tuesday it plans to offer2.5 million depositary shares and use the net proceeds tofinance its Eagle Ford Shale development program and acquiremore leaseholds in Eagle Ford Shale.
** ULTA SALON COSMETICS AND FRAGRANCE INC, $96.98,+13.68 pct
The beauty products retailer reported better-than-expectedfirst-quarter profit and revenue on Tuesday helped by highere-commerce sales and forecast current-quarter sales aboveanalysts' average estimate.
At least two brokerages raised their price targets on thestock on Wednesday.
** UNITED NATURAL FOODS INC, $65.15, -4.89 pct
The U.S. food distributor reported first-quarter results inline with analysts' average estimates on Tuesday and said itexpects earnings of $2.47-$2.50 per share for the year endingAug. 2, down from the $2.45-$2.51 it expected earlier.
The company said the updated outlook reflects acquisitioncosts related to its agreement to buy Tony's Fine Foods forabout $195.3 million.
** PROSPECT CAPITAL CORP, $10.3, +4.89 pct
The business development company said it will not need torestate historical financial statements to consolidate somewholly owned subsidiaries, based on discussions with the officeof the chief accountant of the Securities and ExchangeCommission. (Reporting By Shubhankar Chakravorty in Bangalore; Editing byJoyjeet Das)
