May 16 Premarket Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

U.S. stock futures rise Monday while European stocks edge lower after Chinese data comes in weaker than expected.

Author:: Joseph Woelfel
Publish date:: May 16, 2016 6:02 AM EDT

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Here are 10 things you should know for Monday, May 16:

1. -- U.S. stock futures rose Monday while European stocks edged lower after Chinese data released over the weekend came in weaker than expected.

Markets in Germany and France were closed for public holidays.

Asian stocks ended the session with gains. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8%.

2. -- The economic calendar in the U.S. Monday includes the Empire State Manufacturing Index for May at 8:30 a.m. EDT, and the NAHB Housing Market Index for May at 10 a.m.

3. -- U.S. stocks on Friday ended the day near session lows as a number of disappointing quarterly reports from retailers spooked investors looking ahead to the end of the earnings season.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.1%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.4%.

4. -- Crude oil in the U.S. was rising 1.9% early Friday in the U.S. to $47.07 a barrel after Goldman Sachs said the oil market had ended almost two years of oversupply and flipped to a deficit "much earlier than we expected."

"The market likely shifted into deficit in May ... driven by both sustained strong demand as well as sharply declining production," Goldman Sachs said. Low prices that caused disruptions in Nigeria also was cited as a factor by Goldman Sachs.

The analysts said they expect West Texas Intermediate crude oil to reach $45 a barrel in the second quarter and $50 a barrel in the second half of 2016, Goldman Sachs said.

5. -- Apple (AAPL) - Get ReportCEO Tim Cook met some of China's hottest app developers and used a Didi Chuxing car to visit Apple's store in the popular shopping district Wangfujing on Monday, CNBC reported.

Apple said Friday it invested $1 billion investment in ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing.

At the Apple store on Monday, Cook attended a seminar hosted by Didi Chuxing's President Jean Lui, also known as Liu Qing, and attended by the founders and CEOs of some of China's top app providers, according to CNBC.

According to local media, the Apple boss told the app developers that their innovative work was consistent with Apple's "spirit."

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6. -- Volkswagen's (VLKAY) fourth-largest shareholder said it intends to take legal action against the German carmaker.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund told the Financial Times that expects to file the suit in the coming weeks in response to the carmaker's emission scandal. The $850 billion oil fund is the world's largest sovereign fund and, according to data from Bloomberg, owns a 1.64% stake in Volkswagen, which totaled $750 million at the end of last year.

Chief investment officer Petter Johnsen told the Financial Times that "the company's conduct gives rise to legal claims under German law. As an investor it is our responsibility to safeguard the fund's holdings in Volkswagen."

7. -- Google faces a record fine for monopoly abuse within weeks, as officials in Brussels put the finishing touches to a seven-year investigation of the company's dominant search engine, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

According to the report, it's understood the European Commission is aiming to hit Google with a fine in the region of 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion), a figure that would easily surpass its toughest antitrust punishment to date, a fine of 1.1 billion euros that was levied against Intel.

Sources close to the situation said officials could make an announcement as early as next month, but cautioned the amount of Google's fine hadn't been finalized.

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8. --Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) - Get ReportWarren Buffett and Dan Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans, are bidding for Yahoo! (YHOO) as the auction of the beleaguered Web company progresses, Reuters reported, citing undisclosed sources.

The Buffett consortium is through to the second round but no details on price or financing were provided, according to the report.

9. -- Amazon.com (AMZN) - Get Report in the coming weeks is set to roll out new lines of private-label brands that will include its first broad push into perishable foods, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The new brands with names like Happy Belly, Wickedly Prime and Mama Bear will include nuts, spices, tea, coffee, baby food and vitamins, as well as household items such as diapers and laundry detergents, the people said.

10. -- Superhero blockbuster Captain America: Civil Warwon at the box office for a second weekend in a row, pulling in $72.6 million and running its domestic total to $295.9 million.

Globally, Civil War jumped past $940 million, making it the third consecutive Walt Disney (DIS) - Get Report release this year (after Zootopia and The Jungle Book) to surpass $800 million, according to USA Today.