Live Index – Fri, 17 Jul 2015 Premarket

September E-mini S&Ps (ESU15 +0.04%) are -0.01%, although European stocks are up +0.07% om optimism that the German parliament will vote to support a third Greek bailout program. German Chancellor Merkel urged German lawmakers to support the 3-year package amounting to as much as 86 billion euros, while ruling out a debt write down for Greece. Asian stocks closed mostly higher: Japan +0.25%, Hong Kong +1.00%, China +3.51%, Taiwan +0.04%, Australia +0.01%, Singapore closed for holiday, South Korea -0.49%, India +0.06%. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Index climbed to a 3-week high and China’s Shanghai Composite closed higher on signs that the Chinese government is boosting funds to support the equity market.

Commodity prices are mostly lower. Aug crude oil (CLQ15 -0.10%) is down -0.12% at a 1-week low on oversupply concerns with U.S. crude inventories almost 100 million bbl above the 5-year average for this time of year. Aug gasoline (RBQ15 +0.34%) is up +0.27%. Metals prices are weaker. Aug gold (GCQ15 -0.10%) is down -0.14%. Sep copper (HGU15 -1.19%) is down -1.05% to a 1-week low on signs of increased supplies after LME copper inventories rose +3,125 MT to a 2-1/4 month high 340,325 MT. Agricultural prices are mixed.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.08%) is unchanged. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.07%. USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.06%.

Sep T-note prices (ZNU15 -0.02%) are up +1 tick.

In an attempt to restore confidence in its stock market, China has made available 2.5 trillion yuan to 3 trillion yuan ($ 483 billion) to government agency China Securities Finance Corp to support the stock market, according to people familiar with the matte. The funding is to offer liquidity support to brokerages and to purchase stocks and mutual funds.

Key U.S. news today includes: (1) June CPI (expected +0.3% m/m and +0.1% y/y after May’s +0.4% m/m and unch y/y) and June core CPI (expected +0.2% m/m and +1.8% y/y after May’s +0.1% m/m and +1.7% y/y), (2) June housing starts (expected +6.8% to 1.106 million after May’s -11.1% to 1.036 million), (3) comments by Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer on the Fed’s near-term and long-term priorities and challenges at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Market Competitiveness, and (4) preliminary-Jul U.S. consumer sentiment index (University of Michigan) (expected -0.1 to 96.0 after June’s +5.4 to 96.1).

There are 8 of the S&P 500 companies that report earnings today: GE (consensus $ 0.28), Honeywell (1.49), Comerica (0.75), Kansas City Southern (1.02), SunTrust Banks (0.81), WW Grainger (3.05), Progressive Corp (0.55), JB Hunt Transport (0.90).

U.S. IPO’s scheduled to price today include: Redhill Biopharma (RDHL), Discovery Labs (DSCO), Trovagene (TROV).

Equity conferences during the remainder of this week include: none.

General Electric (GE +1.01%) reported Q2 EPS of 28 cents, right on consensus.

Comerica (CMA +0.74%) reported Q2 EPS of 73 cents, below consensus of 75 cents.

Sun Trust Banks (STI +0.20%) reported Q2 EPS of 86 cents, higher than consensus of 81 cents.

Honeywell International (HON -0.26%) reported Q2 EPS of $ 1.51, better than consensus of $ 1.49.

WW Grainger (GWW +0.68%) reported Q2 EPS of $ 3.27, above consensus of $ 3.05.

BofA/Merrill Lynch downgrades Best Buy (BBY +1.39%) two notches to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Buy.’

Reuters reports that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined a Barclays (BCS +0.63%) unit $ 800,000 for violations regarding how the bank reported stock trades over a more than two-year period.

Celanese (CE +0.33%) reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $ 1.58, higher than consensus of $ 1.42, and then raised guidance on fiscal 2015 adjusted EPS view to $ 5.70-$ 6.00 from $ 5.60-$ 5.90, above consensus of $ 5.75.

Hertz (HTZ -0.35%) surged over 15% after it said it identified accounting mistatements from fiscal years 2011-2013.

Lone Pine Capital reported a 5.7% passive stake in Charter (CHTR +1.18%) .

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD -4.59%) reported a Q2 adjusted EPS loss of -17 cents, right on consensus, although Q2 revenue of $ 942 million was below consensus of $ 950.51 million.

Cintas (CTAS +0.81%) reported Q4 EPS ex-items of 86 cents, above consensus of 85 cents.

Schlumberger (SLB +0.31%) reported Q2 EPS of 88 cents, higher than consensus of 79 cents.

Mattel (MAT -1.72%) reported an unexpected Q2 adjusted EPS profit of 1 cent, better than consensus for a -4 cent loss.

Google (GOOG +3.50%) rose over 7% in after-hours trading after it reported Q2 EPS of $ 6.99, above consensus of $ 6.71.

September E-mini S&Ps (ESU15 +0.04%) this morning are down -0.25 of a point (-0.01%). Thursday’s closes: S&P 500 +0.80%, Dow Jones +0.39%, Nasdaq +1.47%. The S&P on Thursday rose to a 3-week high and closed higher on (1) reduced Grexit concerns as Eurozone finance ministers approved an interim financing plan for Greece and the ECB raised the Greek banking system’s ELA lifeline, and (2) the -15,000 decline in U.S. weekly initial unemployment claims, a bigger decline than expectations of -12,000 to 285,000. The main negative factor was the -9.5 point drop in the Jul Philadelphia Fed business outlook survey to 5.7, weaker than expectations of -3.2 to 12.0.

Sep 10-year T-notes (ZNU15 -0.02%) this morning are up +1 tick. Thursday’s closes: TYU5 -5.50, FVU5 -5.75. Sep T-notes on Thursday closed lower on the larger-than-expected decline in U.S. weekly jobless claims and lower safe-haven demand with the rally in stocks and reduced Grexit concerns.

The dollar index (DXY00 -0.08%) this morning is unchanged. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) is up +0.0008 (+0.07%). USD/JPY (^USDJPY) is down -0.08 (-0.06%). Thursday’s closes: Dollar Index +0.502 (+0.52%), EUR/USD -0.0075 (-0.69%), USD/JPY +0.383 (+0.31%). The dollar index on Thursday rose to a 1-1/2 month high and closed higher on weakness in EUR/USD which fell to a 1-1/2 month low after ECB President Draghi said the ECB will “firmly” implement its asset-buying program. In addition, there was weakness in the yen after USD/JPY climbed to a 3-week high as a rally in global equity markets reduced the safe-haven demand for the yen.

Aug WTI crude oil (CLQ15 -0.10%) this morning is down -6 cents (-0.12%) at a 1-week low. Aug gasoline (RBQ15 +0.34%) is up +0.0052 (+0.27%). Thursday’s closes: CLQ5 -0.50 (-0.97%), RBQ5 +0.0378 (+2.03%). Aug crude oil and gasoline prices on Thursday settled mixed. Supportive factors included the rally in the S&P 500 to a 3-week high and the larger-than-expected decline in U.S. weekly jobless claims. Negative factors included the rally in the dollar index to a 1-1/2 month high, and the current glut of U.S. crude supplies with crude inventories nearly 100 million bbl above the 5-year average.