Hello friends and Coins2Day readers.
Wall Street futures are higher this morning as investors watch developments in Greece.
Negotiations on Greece’s international bailout enter a key phase Thursday amid warnings of the potential impact of a Greek default and exit from the euro.
Today’s must-read story is from Coins2Day‘s Claire Groden, who found 55 Coins2Day 500 employees who have engaged in remarkable acts of kindness and charity. Here are the stories of the Heroes of the 500.
Here’s what else you need to know today.
1. Apple Watch bands
Data from Slice Intelligence, a research firm that mines e-mail receipts, offers a rare window into the money-making potential of Apple’s (AAPL) first brand-new product under CEO Tim Cook. Nearly 20% of Apple Watch buyers are not only shelling out hundreds of dollars for the timepiece, they are also springing for a spare band too, giving the tech giant a profitable second dip into customers’ wallets, according to data provided exclusively to Reuters.
2. Fitbit IPO
The fitness tracking device maker will make its market debut today after once again raising its initial share price earlier this week. Fitbit priced its initial public offering at $20 per share on Wednesday, valuing the maker of wearable fitness tracking devices at about $4.1 billion. The company’s success today hinges on how confident investors are in Fitbit’s ability to take on rivals such as Garmin and Jawbone, as well as the new Apple Watch.
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3. Greece meets with euro zone leaders
Finance ministers from Greece and the rest of the euro zone will sit down together today at a meeting in Luxembourg, as Greece continues its testy debt payment negotiations with its European lenders. Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Wednesday not to expect the group to reach an agreement today on a deal that would result in Greece receiving further aid in exchange for more strict financial reforms. Greece’s current bailout expires at the end of this month, at which point a $1.8 billion payment will be due to the International Monetary Fund.
4. Weekly jobless claims
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, pointing to a tightening labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000 for the week ended June 13, the Labor Department said. Claims for the prior week were unrevised. It was the 15th straight week that claims held below 300,000, a threshold usually associated with a firming labor market. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday gave an upbeat assessment of the labor market. The U.S. Central bank’s policy-setting committee said in its statement that on balance, a range of job market indicators “suggests that underutilization of labor resources diminished somewhat.”
5. Drugstore and grocery store earnings
It’s a day for drugstore and grocery store earnings. Supermarket operator Kroger (KR), which runs the Harris Teeter and Ralphs chains, reported a 23.5 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by a fall in operating expenses. Meanwhile, Rite Aid (RAD) lowered its full-year profit outlook after reporting worse-than-expected first-quarter earnings hurt by interest costs and taxes related to a pending acquisition.
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—Reuters contributed to this report.