The Market In 5 Minutes: Microsoft-LinkedIn, And Some Major iPhone News

Below is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day -- it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. Apply for daily AM access by clicking here or email minutes@benzinga.com.

Macros Focus

U.S. futures traded lower in early pre-market action. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 57 points to 17,719.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 6.50 points to 2,080.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 20 points to 4,437.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures dropped 0.93 percent to trade at $50.07 per barrel, while U.S. WTI crude futures also declined 1.08 percent to trade at $48.54 a barrel.

Tragedy hit Orlando over the weekend as Omar Saddiqui Mateen, a New York-born U.S. citizen of Afghani descent, killed at least 50 people and injured at least another 50 other at a LGBT nightclub. Gun stocks, along with the topic of gun ownership, is highly controversial and policy out of Washington will continue driving stocks, as it has done in the past.

Shares of Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ: SWHC) were trading higher by more than 8 percent at $23.25, while shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company (NYSE: RGR) were higher by nearly 4.5 percent at $59.90.

BZ News Desk Focus

The earnings season has wound down, so very few companies will be sharing quarterly results this week.

The latest quarterly results from Kroger (NYSE: KR), the largest U.S. supermarket operator, and from Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD), the third largest drugstore chain in the country, will be among the highlights. Leading electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL) and from enterprise software giant Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) will also report.

There were no major U.S. economic releases Monday.

Sell-Side Themes

JPMorgan and Canaccord upgraded Agios Pharma (NASDAQ: AGIO), while several others firm started coverage on Merus (NASDAQ: MRUS).

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

Citi downgraded Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) to Neutral, lowering its price target to $180.
Morgan Stanley downgraded Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) to Equal-Weight.
Pacific Crest upgraded ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ:ON) to Overweight.
Bank of America initiated coverage on Weatherford (NYSE: WFT) at Underperform.

Deal Talk

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will buy LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) in a deal valued at about $26 billion.

After a lengthy and somewhat confusing bidding process to buy Yahoo's (NASDAQ: YHOO) Internet assets, Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T) are said to be preparing their final offer. According to Reuters, the two rival telecommunications companies will compete in the third and final round of bidding for Yahoo's web properties.

In The News

According to a report from Nikkei Asian Review, the worst may not necessarily be over for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). The publication reported that shipments of iPhone devices will see its first ever annual decline. iPhone shipments are expected to total 210 million to 220 million in 2016, marking a decline as high as 8.6 percent year-over-year.

Watch out Wall Street, Silicon Valley is coming in a big new way: The author of "The Lean Startup" and his team are in early talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission to create a new stock exchange.

Blogosphere

"The last time the initial public offering market got excited, an Asian internet company called Alibaba was coming to New York." Can the IPO market be revived?

Trending

MSFT SWHC LNKD UVXY MRNS AGIO EMES RGR JNUG SAIC EGRX SYMC BIDU [StockTwits]

"Hamilton" dominated the Tony Awards, with the hip-hop musical picking up 11 wins.

The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks to win their first Stanley Cup since 2009 and fourth overall.

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