Power Lunch

Monday - Friday, 2:00 - 3:00 PM ET

Power Lunch

Power Lunch Morning Brief

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A daily morning look at the financial stories you need to know to start the day

STOCKS/ECONOMY

-Stock futures are flat right now. This is a Fed day, which means investors may keep their power dry until the FOMC statement is released at 2pm Eastern live on Power Lunch.

-And when the Fed does speak, look out for some volatility.

-The London Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Bourse have agreed to a $30 billion merger.

OIL/ENERGY

-Crude prices are recovering from yesterday's losses on news that many US drillers may not have the financial wherewithal to resume production at higher levels.

-Gasoline prices rose another penny overnight to $1.95/gallon, national average.

-Most of the world's biggest oil producing countries in and out of OPEC will meet in Qatar next month.

ELECTION

-Last night's primary results all but clinched the nominations for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But John Kasich did win Ohio and Bernie Sanders may squeak outone win in Missouri. Marco Rubio suspended his campaign.

-In an interview with CNBC's John Harwood, House Speaker Paul Ryan would not rule out accepting the GOP presidential nomination if there's a deadlocked convention this summer.

-President Obama is slamming the nastiness and "vulgarity" in the presidential election thus far.

-Speaking of that ugliness, the Secret Service may be facing a manpower shortage as the election moves on.

SCOTUS

-President Obama will announce his nominee for the Supreme Court at 11am today.

TERROR/DEFENSE

-The US is preparing for a major diplomatic showdown with Iran over Tehran's latest missile tests.

-Military experts believe Russia is now pulling out of Syria because the real purpose of the invasion was to test and show off Putin's improved military power... and now that's been accomplished.

-Lockheed Martin says it's making significant progress on its hypersonic jet projected to fly at six times the speed of sound.

-And Lockheed says international sales are now more important than ever as more and more foreign nations are arming up while the US keeps a lid on defense spending.

-Iran says it's learned secret US military information from the devices it took from the American sailors it detained in January.

-The British Navy will conduct large scale "robot war" exercises this fall.

MOVING AMERICA

-The entire DC Metro train service is shutting down today for what's officially being called "emergency inspections." But commuters were given less than one day's notice.

APPLE VS. FBI

-Apple formally responded to the latest FBI demands to unlock the San Bernardino terrorist's phone by saying the "Founding Fathers would be appalled."

HEALTHCARE

-Imagine taking just one blood test to screen for almost every disease. A new process developed at Israel's Hebrew University to do just that is showing very encouraging results.

VALEANT MESS

-Investor Bill Ackman lost $1 billion yesterday on his stake in troubled Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

DEALS/NO DEALS

-The FCC is reportedly close to approving the Charter Communications/Time Warner Cable deal.