DirecTV Nearing Deal with Viacom and 3 Hot Morning Stocks Driving the Market

2001-2004 models of Ford’s (NYSE:F) Escape SUV are under the lens of the The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as it investigates 13 crashes of the vehicle for a possible problem of unintended acceleration. The news of the probe follows on the heels of a recall of 8,000 numbers of the 2013 version of the Escape due to the positioning of carpet padding.

Whole Foods (NASDAQ:WFM) is downgraded to Hold from Buy by Williams Capital on valuation concerns following a 34.8 percent run up in its shares YTD, despite a meltdown in the sector which it operates, namely grocery store chains; price target set is $88.

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Have the tables turned on Wynn (NASDAQ:WYNN)? Steve Wynn notes a disturbing development in high margin baccarat with a negative ‘delta’ in April not seen in a long time. At Macau business was flat in the first half of the year, though Wynn says the key is to hold margins even with higher market competition.

More on the DirecTV (NASDAQ:DTV) and Viacom (NYSE:VIA) standoff: according to DirecTV, it may be near to thrashing out a deal to return 26 Viacom channels to its programming list. Viacom was ambivalent on a blog post yesterday between returning full access and irking fans by keeping new episodes in abeyance.

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