Hello friends and Fortune readers.
U.S. stock futures are up slightly this morning, signaling markets may halt a two-day slide in stock prices as Greece battles its way to a bailout agreement. European shares are little changed, while Asian indexes closed the day mixed.
Greece is trying to gain support for bridge funding as Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis gets ready for an emergency meeting with euro leaders in Brussels tomorrow. Markets have been uneasy over concerns that a faltering Greece could increase turmoil in Europe.
In other news, Coca-Cola (KO) has reported a 55% plunge in quarterly profit, and home-improvement retailer Home Depot (HD) is bringing on 80,000 extra workers to help deal with the busy spring season.
Here’s what else you need to know about today.
1. Justice Department wants the banks to plead guilty.
U.S. officials are pushing for some of the biggest Wall Street banks to plead guilty to criminal charges that they manipulated the prices of foreign currencies. The targeted banks include Barclays (BCS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), the Royal Bank of Scotland and Citigroup (C). Federal prosecutors have informed these institutions that they must enter guilty pleas to settle the cases, reported the New York Times. The confession of guilt would likely only be a symbolic punishment. There would likely be limited actual fallout from a felony conviction for these massive banks.
2. Qualcomm faces massive China fine.
Qualcomm (QCOM) has agreed to pay China $975 million to settle a 14-month investigation into antitrust violations. The fine is the largest in the country’s corporate history. The deal also requires the U.S. chipmaker to lower royalty fees on its patents locally, which would likely help Chinese smartphone makers. Qualcomm shareholders are breathing a sigh of relief, with shares moving higher now that a major source of concern has been removed for investors.
3. China edges closer to deflation concerns.
China’s January consumer inflation rate has hit a five-year low, increasing pressure on officials to boost financial stimulus to gird growth. The nation’s consumer price index gained 0.8% month-over-month, missing an expected 1% rise and making it the worst report since November 2009. Deflation is a growing concern in the world’s second-largest economy as a declining property market and broad factory overcapacity have been made worse by falling commodity prices.
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4. Oil strike continues.
The biggest oil refinery strike in the U.S. since 1980 now reaches across about 5,400 workers in six states. Strikes have been called at 11 plants, encompassing nine refineries that account for 13% of all U.S. refining capacity. Workers are looking for better healthcare benefits and limits on the ability for contractors to replace union workers in maintenance jobs. The United Steelworkers Union and oil companies are now in the second week of talks as they try to reach a deal.
5. SpaceX goes for round two.
SpaceX, the private spaceflight company owned by billionaire Elon Musk, will try again to send its U.S. Deep Space Climate Observatory, named DSCOVR, into orbit today. A radar problem delayed the original launch Sunday. The weather satellite is bound for deep space nearly one million miles above the Earth. The company plans to try again to land its reusable rocket on an unmanned ship, the second attempt in two months.
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