MARKET PULSE-BofA, The Bancorp, CBS, Portola Pharma, Orexigen

NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS: Reuters is converting some short-form coverage of hot stocks, including Market Pulse, into the new Stocks Buzz product. From June 16, items that were previously published only as a compilation will be published as standalone items featuring the BUZZ tag. They will also be accessible via the STXBZ news code. A collated version will continue to appear on the WATCH/US named-item code under the headline "BUZZ-U.S. stocks on the move".

U.S. stock index opened lower on Wednesday, as investors struggled to find reasons to keep buying with indexes still hovering near record levels. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.37 percent at 16,883.09, the S&P 500 was down 0.27 percent at 1,945.43 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 17.78 points, or 0.41 percent, at 4,320.22.

** APPLE INC (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) , $94.225, -0.03 pct

** STARBUCKS CORP, $74.155, -0.60 pct

The European Commission said it had opened three in-depth investigations into tax decisions affecting Apple, Starbucks (Berlin: SRB.BE - news) and Fiat Finance and Trade in Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) , the Netherlands and Luxembourg respectively.

** JPMORGAN CHASE & CO (NYSE: JPM - news) , $57.58, -0.55 pct

Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake affirmed the investment bank's earlier statements that second-quarter capital markets revenue would likely be down about 20 percent from a year earlier.

** THE BANCORP (NasdaqGS: TBBK - news) , $10.6, -34.57 pct

The lender said it will be restricted from issuing non-benefit relodable prepaid card programs until it complies with obligations issued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The bank said it would incur additional expenses associated with these actions.

Brokerage BTIG downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy", citing uncertainty over the timing of a potential approval of the company's BSA report.

** ELI LILLY AND CO, $59.59, -0.27 pct

Eli Lilly and Co's LLY.N recently approved stomach cancer drug Cyramza failed to prolong the lives of patients with advanced liver cancer in a late-stage trial, the drugmaker said on Wednesday.

** INTERPUBLIC GROUP OF COS, $19.61, +0.15 pct

CNBC's Jim Cramer mentioned the advertising company as a potential takeover target on his show "May Money" on Tuesday, according to Benzinga.com.

** CBS CORP, $63, +3.06 pct

The owner of the most watched U.S. television network said it would divest its 81 percent stake in CBS Outdoor Americas Inc , its outdoor advertising unit, over three days from July 7. The company's shareholders would be able to exchange all or some of their Class B common stock for CBS Outdoor shares at a 7 percent discount.

** PORTOLA PHARMACEUTICALS INC (NasdaqGS: PTLA - news) , $24.93, +3.83 pct

The company said its experimental drug reversed the effect of a generic blood thinner in a mid-stage study, indicating the drug would allow coagulation in cases of excessive bleeding or urgent surgery.

** SANDISK CORP (NasdaqGS: SNDK - news) , $98.31, +1.20 pct

Bofa Merrill Lynch raised its rating to "buy" from "underperform" on the memory chipmaker's stock, according to benzinga.com.

** BANK OF AMERICA CORP, $15.695, -1.41 pct

The bank and the U.S. Department of Justice have reached an impasse in negotiating a multibillion-dollar settlement related to BofA's mortgage investments, the New York Times reported citing people briefed on the matter.

** AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP INC, $54.85, -0.29 pct

The insurer said Peter Hancock would succeed Robert Benmosche as CEO and president, effective Sept. 1.

** INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP, $183.87, -0.23 pct

The tech giant is nearing a deal to sell its chip-making business to contract chipmaker Globalfoundries Inc, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

** MORGAN STANLEY (Berlin: DWD.BE - news) , $31.82, -0.81 pct

The company will "probably" close sales of two physical commodities businesses in the third quarter, CEO James Gorman said.

** BP PLC (LSE: BP.L - news) , $50.77, -0.35 pct

** AEROVIRONMENT INC (NasdaqGS: AVAV - news) , $35.31, -0.34 pct

British Petroleum has been authorized to use unmanned aircraft to survey pipelines and other infrastructure on Alaska's North Slope, the first commercial drone flights over U.S. land, government authorities said on Tuesday, giving a boost to the tiny aircraft's manufacturer AeroVironment.

** AMAZON.COM INC, $338.74, +1.90 pct

The retailer plans to launch a marketplace later this year for local services - a broad term encompassing anything from babysitters to handymen to birthday clowns - beginning with a single market, several people familiar with the matter said.

** OREXIGEN THERAPEUTICS INC (NasdaqGS: OREX - news) , $5.77, -15.27 pct

The company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration delayed its decision on the marketing application of its obesity drug, contrave, by three months.

** LULULEMON ATHLETICA INC (NasdaqGS: LULU - news) , $44.745, -1.62 pct

Founder Chip Wilson said he voted against the re-election of Chairman Michael Casey and RoAnn Costin to the yogawear retailer's board.

** EXELON CORP, $36.79, -1.00 pct

The utility company said it would offer 50 million shares of its common stock and 20 million equity units for sale. The net proceeds would be used to partly finance the acquisition of Pepco Holdings Inc (NYSE: POM - news) .

Each equity unit will comprise a contract to purchase Exelon (Frankfurt: PEO.F - news) common stock by June 1, 2017 and a 1/20 undivided beneficial ownership interest in $1,000 principal amount of Exelon's junior subordinated notes due 2024.

** HILTON WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS INC, $22.75, -2.90 pct

The hotel operator said some of its shareholders were selling 90 million Hilton shares at $23.04 per share, a slight discount to the stock's Tuesday close of $23.43. The company said it would not receive any proceeds from the sale.

** BIOFUEL ENERGY CORP (NasdaqCM: BIOF - news) , $8.98, +55.50 pct

The ethanol producer said it would buy real-estate assets controlled by Greenlight Capital Inc and real estate investor James Brickman for $275 million in cash and stock.

** MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC (NasdaqGS: MU - news) , $30.52, +3.42 pct

Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS - news) raised its price target to $50 from $30 on the chipmaker's stock, citing enterprise demand for its DRAM memory chips used in personal computers.

Prices for DRAM chips made by Micron, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and SK Hynix Inc (KSE: 000660.KS - news) have bounced back from a deep memory chip price slump in 2012 that led some chipmakers to throttle back production.

** H&R BLOCK INC (NYSE: HRB - news) , $32.19, +4.75 pct

The tax preparer's fourth-quarter earnings rose to $3.29 per share from $2.42, after the company exited unprofitable retail partnerships and improved its online tax-preparation software offering.

** RAMBUS INC (NasdaqGS: RMBS - news) , $13.28, +7.44 pct

The technology licensing company raised its second-quarter revenue forecast to $75 million-$77 million, from its previously stated range of $69 million-$74 million.

Rambus also entered into a patent license agreement with Qualcomm Global Trading Pte Ltd, a unit of Qualcomm Inc . The agreement gives Qualcomm Inc and its units access to patented memory, interface, and security technologies from Rambus. The company said other terms of the agreement were confidential.

** SYNAPTICS INC (NasdaqGS: SYNA - news) , $84.98, +27.75 pct

The touchscreen chipmaker's Chief Executive Rick Bergman said he would be "thrilled" to win back Apple as a customer after agreeing to buy the sole supplier of display driver chips for its iPhone.

** PENN VIRGINIA CORP, $13.87, -1.70 pct

The oil and gas producer said on Tuesday it plans to offer 2.5 million depositary shares and use the net proceeds to finance its Eagle Ford Shale development program and acquire more leaseholds in Eagle Ford Shale.

** ULTA SALON COSMETICS AND FRAGRANCE INC, $96.98, +13.68 pct

The beauty products retailer reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit and revenue on Tuesday helped by higher e-commerce sales and forecast current-quarter sales above analysts' average estimate.

At least two brokerages raised their price targets on the stock on Wednesday.

** UNITED NATURAL FOODS INC (NasdaqGS: UNFI - news) , $65.15, -4.89 pct

The U.S. food distributor reported first-quarter results in line with analysts' average estimates on Tuesday and said it expects earnings of $2.47-$2.50 per share for the year ending Aug. 2, down from the $2.45-$2.51 it expected earlier.

The company said the updated outlook reflects acquisition costs related to its agreement to buy Tony's Fine Foods for about $195.3 million.

** PROSPECT CAPITAL CORP, $10.3, +4.89 pct

The business development company said it will not need to restate historical financial statements to consolidate some wholly owned subsidiaries, based on discussions with the office of the chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Reporting By Shubhankar Chakravorty in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)