Nov. 4 Premarket Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

U.S. stock futures are rising slightly Wednesday ahead of testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to a House panel on bank regulation.
By Joseph Woelfel ,

Here are 10 things you should know for Wednesday, Nov. 4:

1. -- U.S. stock futures were rising slightly Wednesday ahead of testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to a House panel on bank regulation.

Yellen's testimony will begin at 10 a.m. EST.

European stocks were higher Wednesday, following strong gains from equities in Asia.

2. -- The economic calendar in the U.S. on Wednesday includes the ADP National Employment Report for October at 8:15 a.m., the trade balance for September at 8:30 a.m., and the ISM Services Index for October at 10 a.m.

6. -- Honda (HMC) - Get Reportsaid it would no longer use front air bag inflators made by Japan's Takata, raising questions about the future of the embattled parts supplier, Reuters reported. 7. --  Groupon (GRPN) - Get Report  issued weak profit and revenue guidance for the quarter ending in December.
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9. -- CBS (CBS) - Get Report  posted third-quarter earnings of 88 cents a share, exceeding analysts' forecasts, and said it was contemplating offering its online service CBS All Access free of ads for $10 a month, a $4 surcharge that matches what online video service Hulu charges for stripping out commercials.

10. -- Earnings are expected Wednesday from Facebook (FB) - Get Report , Qualcomm (QCOM) - Get Report , Whole Foods Market (WFM) , FireEye (FEYE) - Get Report and MetLife (MET) - Get Report .

3. -- U.S. stocks on Tuesday rose after a rally in energy stocks put a fire under the entire market.

The S&P 500 added 0.27% on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq gained 0.35%.

4. -- Tesla Motors (TSLA) - Get Report reported a third-quarter loss of $229.9 million, or $1.78 a share, wider than a year-earlier loss of $74.7 million, or 60 cents, but the electric carmaker said it expects to meet or exceed production targets this year.

Tesla said it expects to produce between 50,000 and 52,000 vehicles in 2015. That's lower than the target of 55,000 it set earlier this year but meets an updated forecast the company provided in August.

Tesla said it delivered 11,603 vehicles in the third quarter, slightly ahead of its plan and up from 7,785 in the same period a year earlier.

Tesla's adjusted loss for the third quarter was 58 cents a share. Analysts forecast 50 cents.

The company also announced it had named former Google executive Jason Wheeler as its next chief financial officer.

5. -- Volkswagen (VLKAF) shares tumbled Wednesday after the German automaker disclosed it had understated carbon dioxide emissions for 800,000 cars, widening its scandal over cheating on U.S. diesel emissions tests.

Volkswagen said Tuesday that it found "unexplained inconsistencies" in carbon dioxide emissions in some vehicles. The company found the additional problem as it investigated revelations that up to 11 million of its vehicles had software that allowed them to deceive emissions testers.

Takata, which counts Honda as its biggest air bag customer, was fined $70 million by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday. 

Regulators have linked eight deaths -- all in Honda cars -- to the Takata inflators, which use ammonium nitrate and can explode with too much force, spraying metal fragments inside vehicles.

The daily deals site also named Rich Williams as CEO, succeeding founder Eric Lefkofsky. Williams has been Groupon's chief operating officer since June. Before that, he served as president of North America. Lefkofsky will stay on as chairman of the board and replace Ted Leonsis, who becomes lead independent director.

For the current quarter, Groupon said it expects adjusted results to range from a loss of 1 cent a share to earnings of 1 cent. Analysts had been expecting adjusted earnings of 7 cents a share.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $815 million to $865 million for the fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts forecast revenue of $950 million.


8.
-- Anheuser-Busch InBev's (BUD) - Get Report $106 billion bid for SABMiller (SBMRY) has been delayed again as the world's two biggest brewers work out details of their complex merger.

Britain's takeover panel agreed to extend the deadline until Nov. 11 to give the beer giants time to finalize their discussions. The companies said they have "made good progress" since the last extension was announced Oct. 28.

Separately, AB InBev agreed to extend Bud Light's sponsorship of the NFL, which was set to expire after the 2017 Super Bowl, for another six years.

The deal is valued at more than $1.4 billion, more than a 15% increase over AB InBev's current six-year agreement with the league, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the sponsorship.

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