Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
- Asian markets were down in overnight trading with the Hang Seng falling 3.19 percent to a four-month low as funds pulled out on concerns over Greece. Europe is mixed, and U.S. futures are modestly higher.
- Greece will face new elections on June 17 according to the state-run Athens News Agency. Leading parties failed to form a coalition government after the May 6 elections, and the June election will be in time for important votes on austerity measures that the country agreed to as part of its second bailout.
- Facebook is reportedly increasing the size of its IPO by 25 percent, adding 85 million more shares bringing the total to 422 million shares. Based on the expected $34 - $38 a share price, it could raise as much as $16 billion.
- Bank of England governor Mervyn King said the euro crisis is going to get worse, and that the UK government and its central bank are developing "contingency plans" to be implemented if the crisis were to spin out of control.
- Berkshire Hathaway's 13-F revealed that Warren Buffett bought a 10 million share stake in General Motors and 1.6 million shares in entertainment company Viacom. He also increased his stakes in Wal-Mart, Wells Fargo, and Bank of New York Mellon.
- Housing starts for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by industrial production at 9:15 a.m. ET. Consensus is for housing starts to rise to an annual rate of 690K in April, and a 0.5 percent month-over-month increase in industrial production.
- While it's known that the $2 billion trading loss at JP Morgan's CIO office took place under trader Bruno Iksil, the New York Post is now reporting that the man on the other side of the loss is Boaz Weinstein, head of Saba Capital Management. Weinstein had reportedly recommended buying the same CDS that Iksil was short.
- Shares of J.C. Penney were down over 12 percent after hours, after the company announced loss of $0.25 per share, on sales of $3.15 billion, missing expectations. There had been high hopes for the retailer after its hired retail guru Ron Johnson from Apple.
- In tech news, Samsung's stock took a battering wiping $10 billion off its market value, on a report that Apple placed chip orders with Japanese rival Elpida. Meanwhile, Apple is reportedly moving towards larger iPhone screens.
- FOMC minutes are expected at 2 p.m. ET. Investors will be watching for signs of QE3.
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