After months of negotiations to take over T-Mobile, Sprint has decided to build up its subscriber base and compete with the likes of Verizon and AT&T on its own. At a board meeting on Tuesday, the company decided to abandon a deal that valued T-Mobile at $32 billion and instead, focus on expanding coverage and pushing new pricing plans later this year. The company’s CEO Dan Hesse is also expected to be replaced by entrepreneur Marcelo Claure. Top News In other news around the markets:21st Century Fox said the 11 percent drop in its stock price coupled with a lack of willingness on Time Warner’s part has caused the media company to give up its pursuit to acquire Time Warner. Fox had offered nearly $80 billion for Time Warner, which was rejected, but Fox had said it was willing to continue negotiating. However, the company said the recent drop in its stock price has made the deal less beneficial to its shareholders.With a temporary ceasefire in place in Gaza, delegates from both Israel and Hamas are working to find a lasting solution for peace while the calm continues. The talks will begin on Wednesday in Cairo, but they are not expected to go smoothly as both sides have specific demands which will be difficult to meet.An Iranian negotiator was quoted by the news agency IRNA as saying that nuclear talks will probably continue at September’s U.N. General Assembly. World powers and Iranian officials agreed last month to extend the deadlines for the nuclear talks after being unable to reach an agreement by the original July 20th deadline.On Wednesday, Samsung and Apple agreed to end the ongoing patent war outside the U.S., taking the rivalry between the two down a notch. Both companies have agreed to drop all patent lawsuits outside the U.S. while still continuing the ongoing cases in the U.S. The agreement will end litigation in several European countries as well as Australia, Japan and South Korea. Asian Markets Asian markets were lower with the exception of the Shenzhen composite, which gained 0.37 percent. The NIKKEI was down 1.05 percent, the KOSPI lost 0.27 percent, the Shanghai composite fell 0.11 percent and the Hang Seng index lost 0.26 percent. European Markets European markets were down across the board, the FTSE lost 0.62 percent, the STOXX 600 fell 0.81 percent, the DAX was down 0.87 percent and the MIB lost 1.25 percent. Commodities Energy futures were higher, both Brent and WTI futures gained 0.23 percent. Gold and silver gained 0.58 percent and 0.36 percent respectively, while industrial metals were mostly lower. Copper fell 1.05 percent, aluminum lost 0.79 percent and zinc was down 0.44 percent. Currencies The euro continued to slide, trading at $1.3366 and losing 0.24 percent to the yen and 0.21 percent to the pound. The dollar was also lower against the yen, down 0.14 percent, but gained 0.29 percent against the pound and 0.03 percent against the franc. Earnings Notable earnings released on Tuesday included:CVS (NYSE: CVS) reported second quarter EPS of $1.13 on revenue of $34.60 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.97 on revenue of $31.25 billion.Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) reported third quarter EPS of $1.28 on revenue of $12.47 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $1.03 on revenue of $11.58 billion.Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) reported third quarter EPS of $1.03 on revenue of $6.30 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.97 on revenue of $6.34 billion.MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM) reported second quarter EPS of $0.21 on revenue of $2.60 billion, compared to last year’s loss of $0.19 on revenue of $2.48 billion. Pre-Market Movers Stocks moving in the Premarket included:General Electric (NYSE: GE) gained 0.92 percent in premarket trade after losing 1.69 percent over the past week.Perrigo Company (NYSE: PRGO) was up 0.54 percent in premarket trade after falling 1.27 percent on Tuesday.Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) was down 10.61 percent in premarket trade after rising 1.60 percent over the past five days.AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) lost 1.88 percent in premarket trade after falling 0.94 percent on Tuesday. Earnings Notable earnings releases expected on Wednesday include:Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU) is expected to report second quarter EPS of $2.35 on revenue of $11.12 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $2.30 on revenue of $11.72 billion.21st Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA) is expected to report fourth quarter EPS of $0.39 on revenue of $7.97 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.31 on revenue of $7.21 billion.Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) is expected to report third quarter EPS of $0.45 on revenue of $4.76 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.51 on revenue of $4.68 billion.CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is expected to report second quarter EPS of $0.64 on revenue of $4.50 billion, compared to last year’s loss of $0.69 on revenue of $4.52 billion. Economics Notable economic releases expected on Wednesday include German factory orders, Italian industrial production, British industrial production, British manufacturing production, Italian GDP, U.S. trade balance and U.S. oil inventory data.Source: http://www.benzinga.com