Hello friends and Fortune readers.
U.S. stock futures point to a slightly higher open for Wall Street Wednesday, as investors focus on reports from Box (BOX), Krispy Kreme (KKD), and Men’s Wearhouse (MW), which are due out this session.
Today’s must-read story is from Fortune’s Phil Wahba and it looks at how McDonald’s (MCD) has turned to former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs for help rehabilitating the troubled fast-food chain’s image.
Here’s what else you need to know today.
1. Japan’s biggest deal this year
Tokio Marine Holdings said Wednesday it has agreed to buy U.S. specialty insurer HCC Insurance Holdings Inc for $7.5 billion, in what would be the biggest M&A deal this year by a Japanese company. Tokio Marine, Japan’s largest insurer by market value, expects to complete its biggest-ever acquisition between October and December, it said in a statement.
2. U.S. budget
A month after posting a record monthly surplus of nearly half a trillion dollars, the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to report a deficit of $98 billion for May when it issues its monthly budget report today. April’s surplus was due to an influx of funds from income tax returns.
3. Box earnings
The cloud storage company is expected to report larger losses than Wall Street expected when it releases first-quarter figures this afternoon. Box has been investing a lot of money in security, including through an acquisition of startup Subspace in March. Box’s stock soared when the company launched its IPO in January, but those shares have steadily declined in value since then, falling more than 27% over the past six months.
4. Surface Hub
Today, Microsoft (MSFT) will reveal the pricing and availability of the Surface Hub, a giant wall-mounted touchscreen that will come in 55- and 84-inch versions. The Hub, powered by the new Windows 10 operating system launching this summer, features a screen that serves as a digital whiteboard and video-conferencing tool that Microsoft intends to sell to business customers.
5. E.U.-U.S. trade deal
A day after postponing a planned vote on a proposed trade deal with the United States, the European Parliament will only debate the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in TKTK today. The proposed deal, which would affect one-third of all world trade, has been met with a fair amount of opposition from lawmakers who fear the current parameters give U.S. companies too much room to challenge European laws.
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—Reuters contributed to this story.
