10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Good morning! Here's what you need to know.

REPORT: The Beats Deal Is Indeed On. A source confirmed to TechCrunch today that Apple's Beats deal is in fact happening, and that Apple isn't after their hardware but rather their talent.

Uber Raising $500 million. The company would be valued at more than $12 billion, the Wall Street Journal said. Investors are said to include BlackRock, General Atlantic and Technology Crossover Ventures.

Hewlett Packard Is Cutting 16,000 Jobs. The computer giant's earnings were right in-line with forecasts, while revenue came in slightly short."

Gap Earnings. The retailer beat earnings forecasts by a penny, and posted revenues higher than consensus. Still, net sales climbed just 1%, and they plan to close 70 stores. Shares were up slightly after hours.

Even More GM Recalls Are Likely. Barclays analyst Brian Johnson met with senior management at GM and said the automaker is using new techniques to uncover potential defects, according to CNBC. As a result, "It is possible that GM may issue further recalls for vehicles, which may have already been recalled." GM recalls now total about 5 million vehicles, and the automaker took a $1.3 billion charge in Q1

New Home Sales. The Census releases new home sales data for April at 10 a.m. Consensus is for 420,000, up from 384,000.

Pork Shortage. The deadly virus that's swept through U.S. hog stocks last fall has caused cold storage pork reserves to fall by 17% , the USDA said. Lean hog prices are up 36% YTD.

Barclays Fined For Gold Deals. The British firm settled charges one of its traders manipulated prices. "It is the first bank to be fined over attempted gold market manipulation, although a source said the Barclays fine was a one-off case and not part of a wider investigation into gold market price rigging," Reuters said.

Weaker Euro. The euro fell against the dollar for the fourth-straight day as German business confidence fell, fueling speculation the European Central Bank will boost stimulus, Bloomberg said. Spanish and Italian bond yields climbed.

Markets. U.S. futures are higher. Markets in Asia were up across the board. Europe markets were higher with the exception of France.

Emerging Markets Are Back. Emerging market stocks have rallied back to the pre-taper levels, the FT said, one day on from the rout's first anniversary.

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