Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Urban says yesterday's Bloomberg article suggesting Halliburton's (HAL) proposed acquisition of Baker Hughes (BHI) is facing significant antitrust concerns contains little new information. The issues raised in the article have been a "widespread investor concern for the past couple of months," Urban writes in a research note. The analyst continues to believe the deal will ultimately close. He keeps a Buy rating on Halliburton with a $68 price target. The provider of oil services closed yesterday down 28c to $41.58.

Unusual total active option classes on open include: ImmunityBio (IBRX), Halliburton (HAL), Redfin (RDFN), Nokia (NOK), Matterport (MTTR), General Motors (GM), UPS (UPS), Philip Morris (PM), PepsiCo (PEP), and General Electric (GE).

Reports Q1 revenue $5.8B, consensus $5.67B. "Halliburton delivered solid first quarter results that again demonstrated the power of our strategy and the strength of our execution. Activity in North America recovered from fourth-quarter lows, and our international business delivered its 11th consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth," commented Jeff Miller, Chairman, President and CEO. "Our customers' multi-year activity plans across markets and asset types confirms my confidence in the strength and duration of this upcycle. Halliburton demonstrated its commitment to shareholder returns in the first quarter and repurchased $250 million of common stock - a solid start to the year and a good benchmark for our expectations going forward," concluded Miller.