Live Index – Wed, 11 Feb 2015 Premarket

March E-mini S&Ps (ESH15 -0.12%) this morning are down -0.11% and European stocks are down -0.53% as Eurozone finance ministers meet in Brussels at an emergency meeting to discuss Greece’s financing needs. German Finance Ministry spokesman Schaefer said an agreement with Greece is unlikely at the meeting as the proposals of Greek Prime Minister Tsipras would require approval of the German parliament. German Finance Minister Schaeuble said there are no plans to discuss a new accord or give Greece more time. An impasse risks leaving Greece without funding as of the end of this month when the current tranche of its 240 billion-euro bailout expires, which may push Greece into default and put its Eurozone membership in danger. Asian stocks closed mixed: Japan closed for holiday, Hong Kong -0.87%, China +0.80%, Taiwan +0.73%, Australia -0.54%, Singapore +0.30%, South Korea +0.30%, India +0.63%. Commodity prices are mixed. Mar crude oil (CLH15 -0.28%) is down -0.46% and Mar gasoline (RBH15 +0.22%) is down -0.06% as OPEC producers cut their March crude prices to Asia, a sign that the battle for market share is intensifying. Saudi Arabia reduced pricing to Asia last week to the lowest in at least 14 years and Iraq said yesterday it will sell its Basrah Light crude to Asia at a -$ 4.10 a barrel discount below Middle East benchmarks, the deepest discount since 2003. Apr gold (GCJ15 +0.37%) is up +0.23%. Mar copper (HGH15 +0.53%) is up +0.82%. Agriculture prices are lower. The dollar index (DXY00 +0.03%) is up +0.12%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.14%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.32%. Mar T-note prices (ZNH15 +0.12%) are up +2.5 ticks.

The cost for European banks to fund in dollars, a gauge of financial risk in the Eurozone, rose to the highest since Apr 2013 after the 1-year cross-currency basis swap, the rate banks pay to convert euro payments into dollars, fell to -0.295 below the euro interbank-offered rate, the lowest in 1-3/4 years.

ECB Governing Council member Jazbec said “at the moment, solvency of Greek banks is not in danger, but there’s always the risk” that the ECB will have to stop providing emergency assistance to Greek banks.

Today’s Jan monthly budget is expected to show a small deficit of -$ 3.0 billion, which would be an improvement over last January’s deficit of -$ 10.25 billion. The Treasury today will sell $ 24 billion of 10-year T-notes. There are 19 of the S&P 500 companies that report earnings today with notable reports including: Time Warner (consensus $ 0.93), Cisco (0.51), MetLife (1.35), PepsiCo (1.08), NVIDIA (0.36), Applied Materials (0.27), Tesoro (1.53), Equifax (1.01), Whole Foods (0.45), TripAdvisor (0.37),

Equity conferences during the remainder of this week include: Credit Suisse Financial Services Forum on Tue-Wed, Stifel Transportation and Logistics Conference on Tue-Wed, Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference on Tue-Thu, Aviation Festival Asia on Wed-Thu, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Insurance Conference on Wed-Thu, Leerink Swann Global Health Care Conference on Wed-Thu, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Rates and Currencies Risk Management Conference on Wed-Thu, BB&T Capital Markets Transportation Services Conference on Wed-Thu, and Morgan Stanley Chemicals Corporate Access Day on Thu.

PepsiCo (PEP +2.10%) reported Q4 EPS of $ 1.12, better than consensus of $ 1.08.

Time Warner (TWX +0.34%) reported Q4 EPS of 98 cents, higher than consensus of 93 cents.

Genworth (GNW -0.89%) reported a Q4 EPS loss of -84 cents with charges, a much bigger loss than consensus of -13 cents.

Service Corp. (SCI +0.61%) reported Q4 EPS ex-items of 37 cents, better than consensus of 36 cents.

Pier 1 Imports (PIR +1.19%) sank over 20% in after-hours trading after it lowered guidance on fiscal 2015 EPS to 80 cents-83 cents, well below consensus of $ 1.00.

Rush Enterprises (RUSHA +1.01%) reported Q4 EPS of 60 cents, higher than consensus of 52 cents.

National General (NGHC +1.77%) reported Q4 EPS of 30 cents, well above consensus of 23 cents.

Team Health (TMH -1.55%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 56 cents, better than consensus of 52 cents.

NCR (NCR +2.07%) reported Q4 non-GAAP EPS of 88 cents, above consensus of 78 cents.

Andersons (ANDE -0.37%) reported Q4 EPS of 89 cents, well below consensus of $ 1.08.

FMC Technologies (FTI +0.05%) reported Q4 EPS with items of 72 cents, below consensus of 79 cents.

Western Union (WU +4.43%) reported Q4 EPS of 42 cents, higher than consensus of 34 cents, and then announced a new $ 1.2 billion share repurchase plan.

Cerner (CERN +0.81%) reported Q4 adjusted EPS of 47 cents, right on consensus, although Q4 revenue of $ 926.03 million was better than consensus of $ 904.33 million.

Akamai (AKAM +2.05%) climbed 4% in after-hours trading after it reported Q4 EPS of 70 cents, better than consensus of 63 cents.

Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH15 -0.12%) this morning are down -2.25 points (-0.11%). The S&P 500 index on Tuesday closed higher: S&P 500 +1.07%, Dow Jones +0.79%, Nasdaq +1.54%. Bullish factors included (1) the +181,000 increase in U.S. Dec JOLTS job openings to 5.028 million, better than expectations of +11,000 to 4.983 million and the highest in nearly 15 years, (2) reduced Greek default concerns on speculation Greece will reach a compromise on its debt negotiations when Eurozone finance ministers meet Wednesday in Brussels for an emergency meeting, and (3) positive corporate quarterly earnings results with 77% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings results so far beating estimates.

Mar 10-year T-notes (ZNH15 +0.12%) this morning are up +2.5 ticks. Mar 10-year T-note futures prices on Tuesday slipped to a 1-month low and closed lower. Closes: TYH5 -8.00, FVH5 -4.00. Bearish factors included (1) the larger-than-expected increase in U.S. Dec JOLTS job openings, which brings the Fed closer to raising interest rates, and (2) a rally in stocks which reduced the safe-haven demand for T-notes.

The dollar index (DXY00 +0.03%) this morning is up +0.109 (+0.12%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is down -0.0016 (-0.14%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is up +0.38 (+0.32%). The dollar index on Tuesday closed higher: Dollar index +0.309 (+0.33%), EUR/USD -0.00035 (-0.03%), USD/JPY +0.791 (+0.67%). Bullish factors included (1) the larger-than-expected increase in U.S. Dec JOLTS job openings to a 15-year high, which signals labor market strength that may prompt the Fed to raise interest rates sooner rather than later, and (2) the rally in USD/JPY to a 1-month high as a rally in stocks curbed the safe-haven demand for the yen.

Mar WTI crude oil (CLH15 -0.28%) this morning is down -23 cents (-0.46%) and Mar gasoline (RBH15 +0.22%) is down -0.0010 (-0.06%). Mar crude oil and Mar gasoline on Tuesday closed lower: CLH5 -2.84 (-5.37%), RBH5 -0.0141 (-0.89%). Bearish factors included (1) the stronger dollar, (2) expectations for Wednesday’s weekly EIA crude inventories to climb by +3.75 million bbl, and (3) the outlook from the IEA that excess global crude supply will persist to the middle of this year and may test the Aug 1998 record high 2.83 billion bbl.