Live Index – Mon, 16 Mar 2015 Premarket

June E-mini S&Ps (ESM15 +0.36%) this morning are up +0.44% on short-covering ahead of the Fed’s 2-day policy meeting that begins tomorrow. European stocks are up +0.94% at a 6-3/4 year high on a strong environment for European equities with the ECB’s ongoing QE program along with the weak euro that has boosted the earnings prospects of European exporters. Concern that Greece will run out of cash by the end of this month without fresh EU funds has boosted the yield on Greece’s 10-year bond to a 1-month high of 10.846%. Greece is scheduled to repay the IMF 588 million euros today and another 346 million euros on Friday. Asian stocks closed mixed: Japan -0.04%, Hong Kong +0.53%, China +2.43%, Taiwan -0.69%, Australia -0.29%, Singapore +0.39%, South Korea +0.10%, India -0.23%. China’s Shanghai stock index jumped to a 5-1/2 year high after Premier Li Keqiang was quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency as saying that policymakers have “fairly ample room” and a “host of policy instruments” to boost economic growth if it slows more than expected. Commodity prices are mixed. Apr crude oil (CLJ15 -0.98%) is down -0.65% at a fresh 6-year low after the EIA said Friday that record U.S. oil supply may start to strain the country’s storage capacity. Apr gasoline (RBJ15 -1.21%) is down -1.00% at a 1-1/4 month high. Apr gold (GCJ15 +0.34%) is up +0.32%. May copper (HGK15 -0.06%) is unchanged. Agriculture prices are weaker. The dollar index (DXY00 -0.44%) is down -0.40%. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.39%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.12%. Jun T-note prices (ZNM15 +0.09%) are up +2 ticks.

UK Mar Rightmove house prices rose +1.0% m/m and +5.4% y/y, a slower pace of increase than Feb’s +2.1% m/m and +6.6% gain with the +5.4% y/y gain the smallest year-over-year increase in 16 months.

Today’s Feb industrial production report is expected to show a small increase of +0.2%, matching Jan’s +0.2% increase. Today’s March NAHB housing market index is expected to show a small +1 point increase to 56. There is one of the Russell 1000 companies that reports earnings today: Vectrus (consensus $ 0.26).

Equity conferences this week include: American College of Cardiology Scientific Session on Mon, Consumer Analyst Group of Europe Conference on Mon-Wed, Barclays Investor Conference on Tue, Cowen and Company Permian Basin Oilfield Tour on Tue, Goldman Sachs Innovation Symposium on Tue, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Industrials & EU Autos Conference on Tue-Thu, Barclays Atlanta Utilities Conference on Wed, Wells Fargo Asset Managers, Brokers & Exchanges Conference on Wed, ISI Retail Summit on Wed, Barclays Power and Utilities CFO Corporate Day on Wed, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases and Related Neurological Disorders (AD/PD) on Fri.

Union Pacific (UNP -0.53%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Macquarie.

Seagate (STX -1.41%) was upgraded to ‘Strong Buy’ from ‘Buy’ at Needham.

Royal Gold (RGLD +0.97%) and Rangold (GOLD -1.07%) were both upgraded to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at HSBC.

Jabil Circuit (JBL +0.18%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ at Cross Research.

DuPont (DD +0.12%) was downgraded to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Buy’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Francesca’s (FRAN -0.52%) was upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Janney Capital.

The FT reports that the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency will bring a $ 1 billion lawsuit against Nomura (NMR unch) due to the bank’s role in the subprime mortgage crisis.

Walt Disney (DIS -0.68%) rose nearly 1% in pre-market trading after its “Cinderella” movie made $ 70.1 million in sales in its weekend debut, above estimates of $ 64 million, according to data from Rentrak Corp.

Netflix (NFLX -2.21%) fell nearly 2% in pre-market trading after Evercore ISI cut its rating on the stock to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold.”

Henry Schein (HSIC -1.40%) will replace CareFusion (CFN -0.12%) in the S&P 500 as of the close of trading on March 17.

Hanesbrands (HBI +0.49%) will replace Avon Products (AVP -5.85%) in the S&P 500 as of the close of trading on March 20.

SL Green Realty (SLG +0.05%) will replace Nabors Industries (NBR -0.17%) in the S&P 500 as of the close of trading on March 20.

Equinix (EQIX -0.43%) will replace Denbury Resources (DNR -3.82%) in the S&P 500 as of the close of trading on March 20.

Boeing (BA -0.31%) was awarded $ 713.9 million government contract modification for 26 remanufactured CH-47F helicopters, four new CH-47s, and the option of building two more CH-47 helicopters.

Bloomberg reports that Whiting Petroleum (WLL +4.28%) has drawn interest from Exxon Mobil (XOM -0.42%) , Continental Resources (CLR -4.88%) Hess Corp. (HES +0.33%) and Statoil (STO -1.37%) as it weighs a sale of the company.

Jun E-mini S&Ps (ESM15 +0.36%) this morning are up +9.00 points (+0.44%). The S&P 500 index on Friday closed lower: S&P 500 -0.61%, Dow Jones -0.82%, Nasdaq -0.49%. Bearish factors included (1) the unexpected -4.2 point decline in the preliminary-March U.S. consumer confidence index to a 4-month low of 91.2, weaker than expectations of +0.1 to 95.5, (2) deflation concerns after the U.S. Feb PPI final demand unexpectedly fell for a fourth month as it slid -0.5% m/m, weaker than expectations of +0.3% m/m, and (3) weakness in energy producers after crude oil fell to a 6-week low.

Jun 10-year T-notes (ZNM15 +0.09%) this morning are up +2 ticks. Jun 10-year T-note futures prices on Friday closed lower. Closes: TYM5 -3.00, FVM5 unch. The main bearish factor is the outlook for the Fed to raise interest rates as soon as June with speculation the Fed at the Mar 17-18 FOMC meeting will remove its pledge to be “patient” on tightening monetary policy, which would signal that the FOMC would have no obstacle to raising interest rates. Losses were limited by increased safe-haven demand for Treasuries as stocks sold off.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.44%) this morning is down -0.403 (-0.40%). EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.0041 (+0.39%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.14 (-0.12%). The dollar index on Friday soared to an 11-3/4 year high and closed higher: Dollar index +0.895 (+0.90%), EUR/USD -0.01387 (-1.30%), USD/JPY +0.063 (+0.05%). Bullish factors included (1) weakness in EUR/USD which slumped to a 12-year low on monetary policy divergence between the Fed, which is expected to raise interest rates, and the ECB, which just embarked on QE, and (2) weakness in GBP/USD which fell to a 4-1/2 year low after UK Jan construction output unexpectedly fell at the fastest pace in 14 months.

Apr WTI crude oil (CLJ15 -0.98%) this morning is down -29 cents (-0.65%) at a 6-year low and Apr gasoline (RBJ15 -1.21%) is down -0.0176 (-1.00%) at a 1-1/4 month low. Apr crude oil and gasoline prices on Friday closed lower with Apr crude at a 6-week low and Apr gasoline at a 3-week low: CLJ5 -2.21 (-4.70), RBJ5 -0.0535 (-2.96%). Bearish factors included (1) the rally in the dollar index to an 11-3/4 year high, (2) the IEA’s report that the record oil surplus in the U.S. may soon strain the nation’s storage capacity and further pressure oil prices, and (3) abundant supplies after last Wednesday’s EIA data showed EIA crude inventories rose to 448.9 million bbl, the highest since EIA data began in 1982.