Morning Brief

As Q2 kicks off, can the bulls keep running on Wall Street?

Key Points

IN THE NEWS TODAY

U.S. stock futures were drifting this morning on the first trading day of April and the second quarter. The Dow and S&P 500 struggled in March, while the Nasdaq outperformed. All three saw strong Q1 gains. (CNBC)

Imagination Tech (IMG.GB) shares, which don't trade in the U.S., were plunging about 70 percent in London after Apple (AAPL) said it's going to stop using the U.K. firm's graphics chips in about two years. (CNBC)

Ahead of this week's meeting of President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, Trump is warning the U.S. would take unilateral action if China doesn't pressure North Korea on nukes. (FT)

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a former general who was elected but rules with a heavy hand, meets with Trump at the White House today. The two first met in September. (AP)

The Senate Judiciary Committee today is expected to advance Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch to a full Senate vote later this week. Democrats are seeking to block the confirmation but another defected. (Reuters)

With immigration a focus for the Trump administration, the government starts accepting petitions today for fiscal year 2018 to allow U.S. companies to temporarily employ skilled foreign workers. (CNBC)

Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Apple are reportedly among the bidders for Toshiba's flash memory unit. Last week, Broadcom (AVGO) and Silver Lake reportedly offered $17.9 billion.

Tesla (TSLA) delivered 25,000 vehicles during the first three months of 2017, up 69 percent from a year ago and the highest-ever quarterly total. Production begins in July on the new, mass-market Model 3. (CNBC)

Mylan (MYL) expanded its EpiPen recall to include the American market. Last month, the drugmaker announced a recall of 81,000 units outside the U.S. following reports of the allergy treatment failing to work. (Reuters)

More than 40,000 households across five states, including Louisiana and Mississippi, were still without power this morning as severe storms that killed two people Sunday continued to sweep the South. (CNBC)

BY THE NUMBERS

The Institute for Supply Management issues its monthly manufacturing index for March and the government is out with February construction spending at 10 a.m. ET. The nation's automakers release their March US sales figures throughout the morning.

There are two Fed officials out and about today. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker speaks at 3 p.m. ET and Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker at 5 p.m. ET.

Under Armour (UAA) could see a 30 percent rise in its stock over the next year, according to a Barron's article, after being the worst performer in the S&P 500 over the past year.

Lowe's (LOW) could rise 20 percent or more, according to Barron's, which noted the health of the home improvement sector in general and that Lowe's is the better value following the rise in shares of rival Home Depot (HD).

Kevin Johnson, a former Microsoft executive and Juniper Networks CEO, officially takes over as chief executive of Starbucks (SBUX) today. Howard Schultz steps aside as CEO but stays on as chairman.

"The Boss Baby," voiced by Alec Baldwin, dethroned "Beauty and the Beast" at the box office this weekend, edging the live action fairy tale with $49 million in ticket sales.

STOCKS TO WATCH

British luxury brand Burberry plans to transfer its beauty business to U.S.-based Coty (COTY) in a deal that would bring in around $225 million and ongoing royalty payments.

A German court has rejected Volkswagen's (VLKAY) attempt to prevent prosecutors from using information seized during searches of a law firm the automaker hired to investigate its emissions scandal.

Ford (F) recalled nearly 53,000 F-250 pickup trucks in the U.S. and Canada for a potential problem that could cause the vehicles to roll while in park. Ford said it knew of no injuries or accidents.

ConAgra (CAG) recalled some of its Hunt's Chili Kits because of possible salmonella contamination.ConAgra said there have been no reports of anyone getting sick.

Texas Roadhouse (TXRH) has agreed to pay $12 million to settle an age bias lawsuit, which claimed the restaurant chain refused to hire workers over 40 as hosts, servers, and bartenders.

Britain's Reckitt Benckiser is mulling options for its small food business in order to reduce debt following the closing of its $16.6 billion deal to buy U.S.-based Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN).

Caterpillar (CAT) is closing its Aurora, Illinois plant, and transferring the production there to one in Decatur, Illinois and another in Arkansas. The Aurora plant employs 800 workers.

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and Wynn Resorts (WYNN) shares could benefit from new figures showing Macau gambling revenue rising a better than expected 18 percent in March, the eighth consecutive monthly gain.

WATERCOOLER

Baseball's opening day is officially today with 12 games. But the season technically got underway on Sunday with three match-ups, including a loss for the New York Yankees. (ESPN)

For college basketball fans, the idea of Gonzaga playing North Carolina for the national title tonight is not that surprising. But for the more casual observers of March Madness, it's raising eyebrows. (SFGate)